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Board Business / Re: Ever Onwards
« on: July 10, 2017, 10:27:30 PM »
Yay, can still log in to access the BLYHT forum! Can once again re-read my thread complaining about Crit Fumble rules! 
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 23, 2015, 09:23:18 PM »Bill Mahr is the O'Reilly of the left. If you wanna get really mad at him, listen to what he has to say about vaccines.
Ok, I was going to just let this go since it's not even about politics, but false equivalencies annoy me ("aiming for the golden mean!" is how the far-right Republicans have dragged legislatures, both Congress and state, to the right for decades now), and after Dman cussed the shit out of Bill Maher for being racist but then didn't mind about the corrupt CEO jacking up the price of a crucial drug people need to live....
If Bill Maher is the O'Reilly of the left, then the left has its shit in pretty damn good order, because the two are not even close to alike in how big of an asshole they are.
I already said he's wrong about that high schooler, he's also wrong on vaccines. I can understand somewhat why he is skeptical of them, because he doesn't trust the pharma companies that produce them. And to be fair, they are colossal fucking douche-bags that bribe our Congress to keep drug prices exorbitantly inflated and on multiple occasions severe side-effects (including...death) to their drugs were discovered well after they began selling them to the populace (leading to massive lawsuits, as I'm sure you've seen over the years). They bribe generic drug companies in order to keep them from releasing much cheaper versions of their drugs even after enough time has passed that it's allowed.
And yes, that asshole CEO is another fine example that pharma companies don't have our collective well being as a major concern.
It is worth noting that his company did not create the drug, they just bought out the company that did and promptly jacked up the price of it, so they could make massive profits. Not that it'd be acceptable if the company that did the actual research did the same thing either, but that makes it especially despicable and you can't trot out the "it offsets the cost of the research" excuse.
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The drug called Daraprim is used to treat parasitic infections that most often occur in those with compromised immune systems due to cancer treatments or HIV infection, and it was sold for $18 per tablet before production rights were acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals. The company is currently selling the medication for $750 per tablet -- an increase of more than 4,000 percent.It's also likely (especially considering the greed already displayed) that the reason they're lowering the price isn't because they were swayed by their conscience, but because they had idiotically priced themselves out of the market and had to change course:
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Before Shkeil announced the company would lower the price, Schaffner said he was concerned doctors would look to use other drugs for treatment before starting Daraprim.It's a 62-year old drug. The reason there was no generic was simply because it was used by so few people, and already cost so little, that it just wasn't worth it.
Going back to Bill, while given the above i can see why he doesn't fucking trust the pharma companies at all, he is still wrong. Vaccines undeniably work and until hard scientific evidence comes out proving a given vaccine is ineffective or has harmful effects, it's wrong to discredit them. He's still not as bad as Bill fucking O'Reilly, and it's that shit-faced weasel CEO that should be getting cursed about if anything.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 22, 2015, 09:04:31 PM »So apparently Cruz's super PAC is refusing to answer why they issued a 500K check to Fiorina...
I don't know, it's like $19.5 million less than she gets as a golden parachute in return for leaving a company after destroying it, so it can't be that. But that's her main source of income. I'm confused...
EDIT: Also, possibly the most vile, evil dipshit (and certainly the dumbest) in the race dropped out today. Please let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, Scott Walker. And by ass, I mean you. The only sad thing about his spectacular failure of a campaign is that the Koch's won't be throwing away hundreds of millions more dollars on it now.
Now he can get back to focusing all his attention on destroying his own state instead of how he'll destroy the country.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 20, 2015, 03:22:56 PM »I disagree vehemently with him on a number of his general anti-religion stances, because he does overgeneralize even that. I mean, a large number of religious organizations DON'T hurt society, and do things like feed and house the poor and homeless, provide medical care (actual medical care, not fake religious stuff like those mega pastors), donate and provide relief with no stipulations, etc. etc. He thinks all religion is good for is swindling the masses and whatnot.
They also get official backing and government funding for those services in many cases, aside from the general gov't assistance of being treated as a non-profit organization. Which was massively ramped up during GWB's term, and Obama did little to change it. I really wish there were more options for secular aid, because I know back during the late 2000's when I was unemployed and on food stamps for a while, I felt REALLY uncomfortable w/ the prospect of having to go to a religious institution to ask for help (which is what many politicians looking to cut direct gov't assistance to the poor argue is the "better alternative") and thankfully never reached the point where I needed to.
Many still do good for the poor, sure. But they're propped up with public money to do so. And while many may not explicitly pressure anything out of those they serve, you're foolish if you don't think there's implicit pressures. Also, some do in fact make more overt gestures.
As for your assessment of what happened, that's not exactly what happened. ...Then she put it in her desk and waited. Two periods later Ahmed was taken to the principal's office. Then the cops were there, allegedly said "I knew it was going to be you" interrogated him, asked him if it was a bomb "no, it's a clock". "it looks like a bomb" "no it's a clock". No bomb squad was called. The teacher and principal didn't evacuate anything. If it was a bomb, it would have gone off WHEN IT BEEPED. And then she put it in her desk. They treated the kid like the dangerous part, not the device. He never said anything about a bomb, he never made a threat, there was never a threat. Cautious is good, and sometimes they do get overly cautious. But I guarantee you if his last name was "Smith" or something he wasn't taken away. not even to the principal.
Ok, that is very fucked up, then. I would think if they mistook it for a bomb, they'd act right away, evacuate the students, and call in the bomb squad, and merely detain the kid while the police checked if it was dangerous. Then either let him go and apologize or let him go and "only" suspend him a few days for bringing "a weapon-like object to school and causing a panic" (as has been done in other over-reacting cases by schools for water pistols, plastic knives, etc.... Again, I vehemently disagree with that, but there's tons of precedent for it). Not arrest him or treat the supposed bomb so lackadaisically and consider the kid himself the more immediate threat.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 20, 2015, 01:45:37 PM »
Sorry, but I just hate them all. They've been a terrible party for a while now, but this is the first year where I literally could not tolerate a single one of their nominees as president, despite there being so many of them.
Still, the amount of debates seems incredibly paltry. Weren't there several times as many in 2008? And I recall last year seeing articles about the RNC making efforts to prevent as much in-fighting and make the process of coalescing around the mainstream choice faster, and reducing the amount of debates being one of those efforts. But they still have way more than the DNC does this election.
I like Sanders, too. I'm just worried they'll bury him over stoking fears about "socialism," and that in general he'll be too nice to aggressively counter all their lies and fear-mongering about him, because like Trump, the entire RNC are essentially bullies.
Dang. I usually agree w/ Bill Maher, but he's wrong on this. (He hates all organized religions, btw, and usually is justified when he's arguing against them because...yeah... but not always)
I can sort of understand an argument of "they're teachers, not bomb experts, how are they supposed to be sure it's not a bomb?" and playing it safe, even though it's kind of silly. And schools have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG history of being incredibly cautious about violence, and going way overboard. There's plenty of cases of kids getting in trouble for packing plastic knives in their lunch boxes, and the zero-tolerance policies for fighting are beyond ridiculous. You get suspended for being involved in a fight automatically, regardless of the circumstances. I've seen it happen personally, and this was over a decade ago, though the most outrageous case was one a friend told me in college about a HS classmate of hers who never even attacked and was just pummeled by the bully until it got broken up, and that victim STILL got suspended.
So schools have been over-reactive dimwits on issues of violence for many years now, and that transcends race. In that respect, I'm really not surprised that some teachers saw what looked even vaguely like a bomb (even if only one of the cartoonish ticking time bomb style bombs) and panicked. They, and the police, are still wrong for doing it and should apologize, but I can understand it happening. They were certainly not "justified" to do it anymore than they are for punishing a kid for daring to want to spread mustard on his sandwich, though.
EDIT: Found a video of the discussing in full, I think.
You're right, it's all politics. However another thing is that the primary debates aren't about substance, it's about publicity. That's why Trump is winning them all right now. I hope and pray they never reflect policy or we are truly screwed, or at least when they do the rhetoric gets toned WAY down. Another thing that's important to note is that this isn't the first time the debates have been like this. That would have been last presidential election. A lot of republicans blame that early and often debate format for the loss. And it's not a giant leap to think that the DNC is thinking the same thing, and wants to avoid that much early in-fighting and exposure.
Still, the amount of debates seems incredibly paltry. Weren't there several times as many in 2008? And I recall last year seeing articles about the RNC making efforts to prevent as much in-fighting and make the process of coalescing around the mainstream choice faster, and reducing the amount of debates being one of those efforts. But they still have way more than the DNC does this election.
As for the chairperson being a part of Clinton's staff, I cannot comment fully on that, but that really sucks, cause I'm a Sanders supporter, and that's just one more obstacle for him to overcome. He's already a better position to win than her (I don't think nearly as many people think socialist is as dirty a word as corrupt, note: regardless of the truth of either statement), and a lot of the DNC energy has een wasted promoting her over competitors.Well... will this help you comment?
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Wasserman Schultz announced her support of Hillary Clinton for her party's 2008 presidential nomination, and in June 2007 was named one of Clinton's national campaign co-chairs.I know it's just wikipedia, but I'm lazy and that's clear public record. I know it's possible for her to have been Clinton's co-chair back then and be impartial now. But the incredibly small number of debates she's set up which coincidentally help out Clinton makes that hard to believe.
I like Sanders, too. I'm just worried they'll bury him over stoking fears about "socialism," and that in general he'll be too nice to aggressively counter all their lies and fear-mongering about him, because like Trump, the entire RNC are essentially bullies.
Also, F*&^ Bill Maher. And F*&$ HuffPo for being incredibly forgiving to the racist bastard. First link, Bill Maher on how "for 30 year's there's been one culture attacking us" (sounds like Trump, right?). Second link, HuffPo not exactly giving the full context of his rant, lettign him come off less like a racist than he was. Third link, the racist, sexist, ____-ist bastard being praised by HuffPo for calling Trump racist. He's a supposed progressive hero, and yet he'd be a conservative dream entertainer. He hates Muslims, he's incredibly misogynistic, he's very Australian (and I mean that in the "hates immigrants" sort of way), the only issue is that he's an atheist, and people like him give me and other atheists a bad name. Dawkins and Jillette do too. I wish there was a higher profile atheist who wasn't a douchebag I could look up to and point to as a representative of my (lack of) faith.
EDIT: Also, F*#$ Bill Maher for being a shoddy "journalist" and playing the "misquote out of context" game.
Dang. I usually agree w/ Bill Maher, but he's wrong on this. (He hates all organized religions, btw, and usually is justified when he's arguing against them because...yeah... but not always)
I can sort of understand an argument of "they're teachers, not bomb experts, how are they supposed to be sure it's not a bomb?" and playing it safe, even though it's kind of silly. And schools have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG history of being incredibly cautious about violence, and going way overboard. There's plenty of cases of kids getting in trouble for packing plastic knives in their lunch boxes, and the zero-tolerance policies for fighting are beyond ridiculous. You get suspended for being involved in a fight automatically, regardless of the circumstances. I've seen it happen personally, and this was over a decade ago, though the most outrageous case was one a friend told me in college about a HS classmate of hers who never even attacked and was just pummeled by the bully until it got broken up, and that victim STILL got suspended.
So schools have been over-reactive dimwits on issues of violence for many years now, and that transcends race. In that respect, I'm really not surprised that some teachers saw what looked even vaguely like a bomb (even if only one of the cartoonish ticking time bomb style bombs) and panicked. They, and the police, are still wrong for doing it and should apologize, but I can understand it happening. They were certainly not "justified" to do it anymore than they are for punishing a kid for daring to want to spread mustard on his sandwich, though.
EDIT: Found a video of the discussing in full, I think.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 20, 2015, 11:08:05 AM »
So, any thoughts on how bullshit it is that the Repukes have had two debates already and the first Democrat debate is still weeks away? They only have like 6 for the entire primary season! You could speculate that it's being done to protect the initial front-runner Hillary Clinton from giving her lesser known rivals a chance to overtake her. But then you find out the current DNC chair, who decides on the number and timing of the debates, was formerly a staff member of the Clinton campaign and it can't even be called "speculation" at that point anymore.
It's really pissing me off. The media's spending almost all of its time talking about the Repukes and their horrible fucking policy ideas that will rape America for decades to come, all because they're the only fucking show in town.
It's really pissing me off. The media's spending almost all of its time talking about the Repukes and their horrible fucking policy ideas that will rape America for decades to come, all because they're the only fucking show in town.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 15, 2015, 08:47:26 PM »And I cannot believe he was elected to governor of NJ. Then again, he probably campaigned differently there, and it was all a ruse... I'm betting if he ran again right now he'd lose to a sack of potatoes getting only 25% of the vote.Any scum bag can lie his way into office. I can't believe he got RE-elected. Ditto for Scott Walker and George W. Bush.
Two of my friends have expressed interest in Trump as a viable candidate. I...wow. They even said "Trump before that socialist. We don't need the government taking my money away from me and giving it to other people."
Someone should explain the entire concept of taxation to them.
Or explain to them what happened to Trump's investors every time he declared bankruptcy and walked away unscathed. They know that money didn't just magically get refunded to those he was indebted to when he went bankrupt, right? It came from somewhere. Trump literally took other peoples' money and gave it to himself!
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Off Topic Fun / Re: WTF News stories
« on: September 13, 2015, 02:35:11 PM »This
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3231564/Schoolboy-13-charged-second-degree-assault-kissing-classmate-dare.html?ito=social-facebook
That sad thing is, that's still better than if it were labeled some sort of sexual assault and the kid went on a sex offender registry for decades.
Also, this...
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No one was injured in the kiss on Wednesday, police spokesman said
Seriously?
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 09, 2015, 11:07:18 PM »Ironically COlumbus is considered one of the most gay friendly cities i the nation. The rest of Ohio not so much.
So, when you play a Diablo game, and you're totally 100% safe and comfortable in the town amongst civilization, but the second you set foot outside of it, you're instantly transported to a fiendish hellscape where hordes of ravenous evil monsters try to hunt you down and skin you while shrieking shrill curses and praises to their vile dark overlords...
...Is a pretty spot-on simulation of what it's like to be gay in Ohio.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v2
« on: September 09, 2015, 09:12:44 PM »Why is Ohio even a thing still? Or...were they joking? I think Walker said something like that at one point....so maybe they were joking about him?
They weren't joking. Ohio is still a thing because it's a microcosm of the US. There are very liberal areas, and very conservative, and everything in between. I live towards the south in one of the poorer, and therefore more conservative areas. Typical attitudes here are as follows:
Until the late 90's you could still be hung from a tree for being black and suspected of a crime. Any crime. It was socially acceptable to refer to african americans as nigger as opposed to their actual name. The one time I expressed interest in dating a girl who wasn't my own race it was made clear to me that if her parents didn't kill me, and mine couldn't be convinced to do so, the police would be happy to make sure i swung from a noose as well. They think Black Lives Matter is a plot to restart the Civil Rights Era so democrats can "monopolize the black vote". Seriously, they actually believe this. Granted by their own admission they define black as anyone who isn't 100% white.
The local area mostly employees people in factories and distribution centers, and all of the workers are anti union because unions are evil liberals, and they don't want a higher minimum wage because it's "communist" and they feel it lowers their place in the social hierarchy. As one put it "People who earn minimum wage are nobodies, and everyone is free to shit on them as they please. If they raise the minimum wage past what I'm making now then I'm a nobody, and that's unacceptable. No one shits on me." Except of course for his employers, who shit on him daily and are slowly driving him to alcoholism.
Regarding the recent news story of a girl driving a boy to commit suicide: "If she can do it good for her. If he was that weak he needed to die, she shouldn't be charged with anything, she did the world a favor."
Our town councilman on where america went wrong: "The two greatest mistakes this country made were allowing unions, and letting women vote. Letting the darkies spend generation after generation on welfare comes a pretty close second. We only have so many of them here because we have the county welfare office and it draws them like flies to shit." I've been to the county welfare office. I've never seen anyone there who wasn't white, since 90+% of our population is white.
Remember the NH kid who was just acquitted of rape but convicted of everything else? They found that outrageous. "If a woman can't defend herself physically from rape, she should be banned from suing." One guy actually thinks rape should be legal because "women have a duty to men."
They think Kim Davis' actions are perfectly fine because gays are an affront to God and should be 'sterilized so they can't reproduce'.
All of this is said in front of me daily without a trace of irony or humor. I know it's different in some parts of Ohio, but I don't live there. I've had to bury virtually every gay or tg friend I've ever made, and the ones who have survived I've had to repeatedly pick up from he hospital because of the beatings they receive. Even now, any friend I have I have to travel to see, because none of them will come where I live. If I had the ability to move I would, and if I ever get disability or a better job i wil.
If we're going to continue talking about how fucked up Ohio is (and based on the above, we definitely should), it'd be handy to have Bhu's post quoted, what with the new thread and all. The part about keeping gays from procreating is deliciously funny. But that last part....holy fucking shit. Get the Justice Dept. called in!
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General D&D Discussion / Re: Popularity of 3.5E/PF over 4E/5E
« on: September 08, 2015, 08:55:55 PM »In general, there was far less (if even existent) overarching rules for any given situation, and that unpredictability made it a hell of a lot tougher toBatmanDoctor Doom Wizard your way through problems.
Thank you
No, seriously. Thank you!
You have NO IDEA how much I loathe "Batman Wizard" and have endured in silent despair for years. I didn't even want to add the strikethrough there, but figured most wouldn't get it if I left it out.
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General D&D Discussion / Re: Popularity of 3.5E/PF over 4E/5E
« on: September 07, 2015, 09:50:45 PM »
I don't mind linear warriors, quadratic wizards. I don't want perfect balance. And I say that as someone who mostly plays martial artists and rogues. But 3E (and PF...especially PF) did take it too damn far. Casters at high level get dozens upon dozens of spells. That's fucking ridiculous. It's too easy to use spells to rest safely and recover as if that wasn't enough. And having been a DM for a few years now after mostly being a player, being REQUIRED to shove 3+ encounters down the party's throat every adventuring day just to keep the casters in check is annoying and untenable as all hell.
Then there's the full casting PrC's that give full casting advancement plus extra goodies. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea? They didn't need MORE SHIT! That's one of the biggest issues w/ 3E caster imbalance. The shoulder shrugging attitude of, "what's it matter?" I mean, casters get time stop and shape change and plane shifting. So what's it matter if we let a cleric buy cheap night sticks and take a few feats to ignore his spell level cap and get all his best buffs all day long? He was already broken, right? Wizards are already tier 1, it's not like Incantatrix will hurt things more, right? Just some examples...
It's like an avalanche racing down a mountain, building. And building. And BUILDING.
And while 2E did it in erratic and/or shitty ways, it did actually somewhat balance casting with its silly, unwieldy rules. Initiative changed every round and you had to declare your actions before knowing it, so casting was far more perilous. Teleporting blindly into some wall would kill you. In general, there was far less (if even existent) overarching rules for any given situation, and that unpredictability made it a hell of a lot tougher toBatman Doctor Doom Wizard your way through problems.
I don't want 2E solutions, and I don't want perfect balance. But come on...
Then there's the full casting PrC's that give full casting advancement plus extra goodies. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea? They didn't need MORE SHIT! That's one of the biggest issues w/ 3E caster imbalance. The shoulder shrugging attitude of, "what's it matter?" I mean, casters get time stop and shape change and plane shifting. So what's it matter if we let a cleric buy cheap night sticks and take a few feats to ignore his spell level cap and get all his best buffs all day long? He was already broken, right? Wizards are already tier 1, it's not like Incantatrix will hurt things more, right? Just some examples...
It's like an avalanche racing down a mountain, building. And building. And BUILDING.
And while 2E did it in erratic and/or shitty ways, it did actually somewhat balance casting with its silly, unwieldy rules. Initiative changed every round and you had to declare your actions before knowing it, so casting was far more perilous. Teleporting blindly into some wall would kill you. In general, there was far less (if even existent) overarching rules for any given situation, and that unpredictability made it a hell of a lot tougher to
I don't want 2E solutions, and I don't want perfect balance. But come on...
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread
« on: September 07, 2015, 01:05:35 AM »The flaw I've always found with that particular strip is... well, have you looked at the history of languages in the rest of the world?
Pretty much. The whole English as our national language thing is almost always in response to Hispanic people in the U.S. who are most certainly NOT speaking the original native language(s) of their own lands.
So that's a pretty stupid "take-that!" counter-argument.
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General D&D Discussion / Re: What's with the "Batman Wizard" thing?
« on: September 06, 2015, 01:00:32 PM »Ok. I get it. Batman has a utility belt. He's always got the right tool for the job, just like a Wizard. But any further than that, the metaphor breaks down.Yeahee someone finally said it. +1'ed.
Yes! So fucking sick of the batman worship! He's got NOTHING on a D&D wizard.
Really not sure what a good rep of a wizard is in media, but Iron Man is definitely an improvement over Batman. I'm not too versed on comic books, and dislike the uber-powered crap that would likely best model a wizard, so can't make any suggestions. It'd ideally be a smart character that is actually capable of bending the laws of the universe to his or her will (with restrictions/limitations, but still).
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General D&D Discussion / Re: Popularity of 3.5E/PF over 4E/5E
« on: September 06, 2015, 10:40:35 AM »
Wow, people really think that so many still prefer 3E because of Pathfinder (despite the fact that them playing 3E instead of PF kind of damns that statement), because we're held mentally "hostage" by all the time we invested in houseruling (people during 2E had literal BINDERS of needed changes, and readily converted to 3E), or because we're still finding new exploits and feel oh-so-smart about being the first to do so (even though with the internet, it takes just a few seconds to discover someone else has always figured it out years before you).
Give me a freaking break! People still play 3E over the other systems because they like it the best. Sick of all these dismissive comments, backhanded compliments, and utter derision for the best edition D&D has ever had. I see it on every other forum discussing 3E's continued strength, I expected better from here.
Finally, a voice of reason. Exactly this. If a new edition came out that worked like PF, but significantly re-balanced or nerfed many of the spells (not just the broken ones, but also the ones that obsolete other characters) and just in general lowered the spells per day (start off about the same at level 1, but DRASTICALLY lower the amount gained from level up and stat boosts), had as an edict that "no casting prestige class shall be obviously better than staying in the base caster class" (by nerfing the PrC's but not buffing the base classes *glares at Paizo*), and buffs the martials all up to tier 3 or 4... People still playing 3E and many playing PF would switch over.
Give me a freaking break! People still play 3E over the other systems because they like it the best. Sick of all these dismissive comments, backhanded compliments, and utter derision for the best edition D&D has ever had. I see it on every other forum discussing 3E's continued strength, I expected better from here.
3.5/ PF has been out for a while (over a decade), so it's likely the people that have stuck with it enjoy the system. Who doesn't has had ample time to move on.
Probably only thing that would make the majority of current 3.5/PF players move on would be a better 3.5/PF, which 5e isn't. 5e is moving in a radically different direction on quite a few fundamental aspects.
Finally, a voice of reason. Exactly this. If a new edition came out that worked like PF, but significantly re-balanced or nerfed many of the spells (not just the broken ones, but also the ones that obsolete other characters) and just in general lowered the spells per day (start off about the same at level 1, but DRASTICALLY lower the amount gained from level up and stat boosts), had as an edict that "no casting prestige class shall be obviously better than staying in the base caster class" (by nerfing the PrC's but not buffing the base classes *glares at Paizo*), and buffs the martials all up to tier 3 or 4... People still playing 3E and many playing PF would switch over.
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D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Seeker of the Song
« on: August 22, 2015, 09:17:15 PM »Totally could~
No, I don't think you can actually consciously choose not to hear something.
OP, the two are at opposite ends of the power spectrum. Sumblime Chord is the highest powered bard PrC, and Seeker is one of the absolute weakest.
SC gives up a bit of performance to focus on casting, and gives you 9th level spells. That's just...amazing.
Seeker gives up all casting progression to focus on performance. But...it's overall worse than SC at performances, too, so it's a total fail. Quality beats quantity. And SC's song to increase caster level is stronger than anything Seeker has to offer. Most Seeker songs are actually quite terrible, the only good one (and it is extremely good) is the one that shuts down all spellcasting. But that's not till halfway through the awful class and it is double-edged. If you have multiple other casters in your own party, it's probably more of a nerf than a boon; if it's a martial-heavy party, it is a great choice, though.
What level are you starting at? SC can't even be entered until level 11, and Seeker's only redeeming quality is 5 or 6 levels in, so neither PrC is actually viable for a long time. If you're starting at low levels, might be better to not bother w/ either and pick something else with much earlier payoff, like Lyric Thaumaturge.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread
« on: August 22, 2015, 07:49:25 PM »
Has Rand ever railed against "career politicians" or "government employees that never get fired" in his speeches? If so, that irony hypocrisy is rich.
I've certainly seen Jeb! demagogue against government employees while noting how damn long he's been in government (like, 3 decades now).
And Carly Fiorina wants to make it much easier to fire them....but unlike her, without a $21 million golden parachute.
I've certainly seen Jeb! demagogue against government employees while noting how damn long he's been in government (like, 3 decades now).
And Carly Fiorina wants to make it much easier to fire them....but unlike her, without a $21 million golden parachute.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: Videogame Discussion II: Snake's Revenge
« on: August 22, 2015, 04:16:46 PM »
Ok, I hadn't bothered to uncheck games before, but it seems you only get the bundle prices if you buy all 10. Since I want most of them anyway, may as well get them all. They're not all $2, either. NWN is $4 and some are less than $2, so in total it's $21.10.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: Videogame Discussion II: Snake's Revenge
« on: August 22, 2015, 11:22:00 AM »
I liked what I played of BG and IWD to definitely get those and I've heard enough rave reviews of Planescape and NWN to pick those up, too. I was more looking for:
1) Are any of the games subpar and not necessarily worth playing? The price is negligible, but I don't have as much free time as I did when in school full time. But if I'm never going to bother playing it, it's pointless to buy. Are there any on the list you'd NOT recommend? From the short descriptions, all but one sound like BG-style RPGs, and the other one is called a "hack and slash," which I also like.
2) Is multiplayer required for any of them, or a major component of any? I though NWN had significant multiplayer aspects, and that'd definitely be a turn-off for me.
EDIT: Not sure why, but specifically BG 2 and ToEE don't list Windows 10 compatibility, the rest all do. Not sure if they really don't work or they just forgot to update those pages when it came out. But it's something to consider. I still have Win7, but my computer is over 6 years old and I was planning to get a Win10 computer later this year.
1) Are any of the games subpar and not necessarily worth playing? The price is negligible, but I don't have as much free time as I did when in school full time. But if I'm never going to bother playing it, it's pointless to buy. Are there any on the list you'd NOT recommend? From the short descriptions, all but one sound like BG-style RPGs, and the other one is called a "hack and slash," which I also like.
2) Is multiplayer required for any of them, or a major component of any? I though NWN had significant multiplayer aspects, and that'd definitely be a turn-off for me.
EDIT: Not sure why, but specifically BG 2 and ToEE don't list Windows 10 compatibility, the rest all do. Not sure if they really don't work or they just forgot to update those pages when it came out. But it's something to consider. I still have Win7, but my computer is over 6 years old and I was planning to get a Win10 computer later this year.
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Off Topic Fun / Re: Videogame Discussion II: Snake's Revenge
« on: August 22, 2015, 03:12:03 AM »
GOG sale on D&D computer games: http://www.gog.com/promo/weekend_promo_hasbro_dd_classics_bundle_200815
$2 each, no need to buy every title. But, should I? I've only ever played Icewind Dale 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (but no expansion pack) out of that list.
$2 each, no need to buy every title. But, should I? I've only ever played Icewind Dale 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (but no expansion pack) out of that list.
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