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Messages - RedWarlock

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1
General D&D Discussion / Re: " necromancy "
« on: February 02, 2020, 07:55:15 PM »
I know GitP being down has definitely destabilized MY free time. Frustrating as heck, I used to causally browse there for what I'm now realizing is a couple hours a day, spread into dozens of little 5-10 minute sessions.

2
Off Topic Fun / Re: The Small Rants Thread XII: The Folly of Life
« on: October 14, 2019, 07:48:29 PM »
The thing to keep in mind with any borderline kink or fetish, there are folks who live with it, but don't act on it, either only doing things for themselves in private, or having other kinks which they try to associate more with, or even trying to use counseling to break from it.

3
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Re: Pretty Soldier
« on: February 19, 2019, 03:00:58 AM »
Any chance we could get a different name for either Sweet Soul or Sweet Shot? They blur together on the table, since they're the same character length.

4
Off Topic Fun / Re: The Politics Thread v3
« on: November 07, 2018, 01:32:05 AM »
Michigan gets legal weed, so there's that.. I've heard it goes into effect Jan 1st...

5
I've got a concept for a similar system I was planning to build into my personal heartbreaker. My inspiration was the magic-charges system that WoW uses for the Mage class recently. Simpler spells build up charges while dealing incidental-but-useful damage (often to secondary minions), while a finisher detonation spell expends those charges to greater effect as more charges have built up. The simpler spells are either low cost or at-will, while the charges expire when out of combat, meaning the mage can't store them for an early blast. No alpha-striking, and it gives the tanky melee guys something to do, keeping the enemies off the mage while he builds charges.

6
Decided to do the "throw them into the ground/a wall for deliberate damage". (It's still not super-high-end, but it's pretty good, and I can't really see it fitting well onto the lower tiers of the power in place of the ones I've already got.)

Basically, the Brawler can subtract spaces from their effective damage to turn it into d6s of damage. So, for example, if you could normally throw a target 6 spaces, you could throw them two spaces and deal 4d6 damage to them when they hit the ground instead. Also includes a bit where an additional half of that damage is also dealt to the surface/obstacle hit, allowing you to throw one enemy into another for bonus damage. Now, if it's too weak, I can tune the damage higher, or maybe include a stat bonus, but it's good for a start. (Also, lower-level characters can still stunt the higher usage anyway, just costs some bonus points.)

Thanks, guys! Now, on that line of thought, any ideas for a 5th-rank expansion of each power?


Okay, looking through Setting Sun, getting an interesting set of ideas. This might need more shuffling of powers and grades, maybe some new class abilities. (the 6th level/3rd rank powers might become an independent ability from just the strict upgrades..) I like where this is going, but it's going to be more intensive than just slotting in a 4th level power at Brawler lvl 10...

7
Game Design / Need a high-end trip/throw ability for a brawler class...
« on: October 29, 2018, 01:15:30 AM »
In my custom system, I'm working to build a Brawler class, a martial controller. I've got three main class archetypes, a grappler, a stunner, and a tripper. I've got high-level abilities defined for two, but I can't figure out a good corresponding ability for the tripper.

(My system uses different terms, but I'm using D&D analogues for ease of terminology.)

All classes are 10 levels. To take a class, you first need a [Starter] feat, which grants some core function of that class. All classes have multiple possible starters; these define variants of the class progression, with specific class abilities upgrading that core function. If you have multiple feats for the same class, you can spend some "skill points" (how all non-automatic spells/maneuvers/etc are purchased) to buy those alternate versions. The basic action system is kind of like PF's unchained action system, with three 'actions' per round. A basic weapon attack costs two actions, as would most basic spells.

So, the brawler class I've got, all three starter powers use a single action to initiate their manuever, a roll vs touch AC, basically. If that hits, they spend another action to carry through, grabbing, stunning, or tripping the opponent, using an unarmed damage roll to affect the result. The Grab power deals unarmed damage straight up, the Stun power uses the unarmed damage to add stacking Stunned conditions (each of which cancels one action for the enemy), and the Trip power, beyond the basic knocking-prone, can also throw the enemy spaces away. (Basically, the Brawler rolls, and counts the number the damage exceeds a base, like rolling a 16, exceeding a base of 4 in increments of 5, for 2 bonus effects, stunned conditions or yards thrown, respectively.)

There are three boosts to these powers, at 2nd, 6th, and 10th levels.

2nd level: Grab allows the Brawler to spend martial dice, a per-round secondary combat resource, to oppose escape attempts, rather than costing actions, and they can move with the enemy, slowly. They also get a bonus to other attacks on the held target. Stun and Trip both get the ability to chain that power into another regular attack by spending a single extra action.

6th level: All three powers get the ability to spend martial dice to increase the effect; spending dice grants a double-effect of bonus to the attack AND the damage/effect. Grab, the bonus to attacks vs held targets gets bigger, and it's easier to move a held target. Stun, the interval for more Stunned conditions gets smaller, making it more effective. Trip, the interval for yards thrown gets smaller, meaning they are thrown farther.

10th level: Grab, all attacks on the target are automatic successes, rolling with a high bonus for roll-over-X-for-effect purposes. Stun, if you have Stunned conditions greater than one of their base scores, you can choose to leave them instantly dying instead.

But Trip, I don't know. What's a good, high-level effect for a tripping/throwing power? It should be something built into the power itself, so while Grab, a sustained effect, gets boosts to attacks while it's sustained, the Trip/Throw effect is a one-and-done effect, plus I'd want something more original to it than just bonuses to attacking a prone target. What's something I could add to it?

Also, I'd welcome suggestions for a 5th-rank power for each, since each of these still has an optional rank upgrade that the player can buy into when they want. (And remember, it has to be something built in to the function, as an expansion of that base use, not something added on. For instance, in another version of this post on GitP, I got the suggestion of ripping off a grappled creature's limb, but that doesn't work, because it's not part of the base ability.)

8
D&D 5e / Re: Unearthed Arcana: Eberron given away free?
« on: October 10, 2018, 08:21:58 PM »
What are we paying for in DM's Guild?

To answer your question literally:
  • early, compiled access vs piecemeal chunks
  • an ongoing look at development as it progresses (flawed beta Eberron is better than NO Eberron, right?)
  • lots more flavor text and non-mechanical content
Plus, you still get the final book with revisions, once the surveys come back and they make fixes.

9
(Just posted this at GitP, but I wanted to get you guys' opinions too.)

My GM runs a fairly strict Paizo-only PF game, at least provisionally. (He apparently adds in 3rd party content as bonuses.) After a disappointing run with a Kineticist, he gave me the go ahead to run a Warlock from Complete Arcane.

I want to try to collect all the vital components from 3.5e, including prestige classes and relevant feats, and put it together into a single PF-style class. I want to do the common reinterpretation and add different pacts (like 4e/5e) as bloodline-style class features, and generally fold the various prestige class features that are common in 3.5 into selectable class features/invocations, like turn Hellfire Warlock into an essence, and Dragonfire Adept into either a dragon pact, or an archetype, or both (I’m thinking a ‘dragon pact’, as well as a more full-featured DFA archetype.) Likewise, fold Hexblade in as an archetype ala 4e.

And, yes, I know there've been a few other such attempts, but none of them really hit me as capturing what I enjoyed of the 3.5 warlock. I'm NOT adding daily spell slots, for one thing. I want to keep to the at-will invocations. Feel free to suggest good adaptations and their best parts, but I want to do this myself to hit the flavor I like.

So, mechanically, it would be 90% 3.5e Warlock/DFA, with little touches of 4e/5e, structured to fit into a PF game. What are the vital components there?

10
Board Business / Mobile Theme messed up?
« on: September 08, 2018, 02:46:07 PM »
When I view any list of topics, either on any individual board, or the ‘show unread’ summaries, the topic gets scrunched to just around a quarter of the page width, maybe a little wider if a long word forces it. I don’t browse here much on my phone, but that feels new.

When I get home, I can post a screencap if you need an example.

11
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Class Sources
« on: September 08, 2018, 02:39:44 PM »
Mongoose did a "Quintessential Witch" for 3.0.
I thought the Quintessential books were just support splats, like per-class versions of “Sword & Fist”, etc.?

Edit: So that was just a support book for the DMG Witch, treating it as a full class. I recall there being Quintessential books for each of the PHB core classes.

13
General D&D Discussion / Re: Pathfinder 2nd Ed Announced
« on: March 20, 2018, 03:54:46 AM »
The GitP thread on PF 2e got locked for arguments. The skill system is apparently very 4e-like, which inspired a lot of vitriol.. Seems like it's got a shorter-than-PF1e list of basic, anybody-can-use skills, and then adds trained-only actions via skill feats. From what I gather, there's an automatic bonus that scales at half-level (increasing on the odd level?), and then proficiency scales from -2 (non-proficient) to +4-ish at high levels? (working from memory)

Anybody heard anything else of interest? I need my fix of info, man.. I'm jonesing here.

The biggest thing for me is that this inspires me to go back to the well and keep working on my own custom system. I'd been debating condensing it into a 5e reskin (akin to PF or early M&M in how it relates to the base system), but I feel like I could easily stand more on my own two feet. I'm seeing a spectrum of changes between PF 2e, 5e, and even 3.5/PF and 4e, where the choices I'm making in how I handle skills, classes, etc fit into the broad ideas of a rules-heavier D&D-style RPG but in (what seems to be?) a unique permutation. Makes me feel better, that my choices feel like a more valid approach for the kind of system I want to play than what's in 5e or PF 2e.

14
Off Topic Fun / Re: Does anyone have any experience fasting?
« on: February 06, 2018, 12:27:29 AM »
I did Intermittent Fasting (12-16-hour fasts daily) as a weight-loss aid a couple years back. It was okay, but my diet wasn't the best overall (I was working an office job and I would resort to diner food quite often, didn't help much). Lost a bit of weight with it, but nothing outstanding, only like 10-20 pounds from my 350-ish total. (Also did keto/low-carb, same kind of results, minor loss, nothing outstanding. In contrast, last fall, I got my shit together and properly tracked my macros on a daily basis, and dropped 40+ pounds in 4 months, in combination with my ongoing major weightlifting routine.)

As I've gotten more embedded into fitness culture (fitness facebook groups, mostly), the general consensus is that most IF is just another form of calorie restriction, since you can only each so much in the limited feeding window. Most people would be better off just properly tracking their macronutrients. (Same for keto, the supposed hormonal benefits aren't significantly better than just properly balancing your nutrition and regular vitamin intake.)

36 hours is the top-end of the IF range, and those are usually only a once-a-week thing, maybe twice-weekly. Longer fasts than that don't have much in the way of scientific support (few studies, little more than anecdotal evidence in support), and the risk of damage to the system is more likely than the supposed benefits one would gain.

In short, do your homework, make sure what you're doing has some significant support, and more than just anecdotal evidence supporting it.

15
Other Games / Re: Ascension?
« on: October 04, 2017, 01:57:18 AM »
Okay, what the heck happened there? Whatever combo you are using, I can’t stand up to it. What set is it from? Maybe strike that one out?

Four out of five times, it feels like I’m still just getting started, and you finish the game on me. I can’t keep up. This isn’t a “git gud” scenario, because I can win handily on hard AI and even against other players I’ve randomly matched against.

Quite honestly, this is killing my enjoyment of the game. Maybe you’re just too experienced, like because you’ve played with those limited sets so much, it’s become more or less a solved game. Maybe stretch a little, try some new sets? I’m not going to sit around and be demolished over and over, though, I don’t find that enjoyable. That’s just going to drive me away from it entirely.

16
Other RPGs / Re: Horror RPG System Recommendations?
« on: September 30, 2017, 03:54:59 PM »
Taking inspiration from nWoD, I’ve been running my own humans-turning-into-monsters setting with Fate, using a special 5-pt consequence track called Humanity, which players can use to get event-based boosts, by taking on aspects that represent their physical deviation from human baseline. It also acts as a limiter for their magic skills, first aspect grants 1 rank for a magic skill, second grants two ranks (so they could now have 3 in one, 2/1 in two, or 1/1/1 in three), etc.

Eventually, Evil Hat is supposed to put out a horror book for Fate, I’ll be watching that carefully.

17
Off Topic Fun / Re: The Small Rants Thread XII: The Folly of Life
« on: September 26, 2017, 09:26:22 PM »
Holy shit. I have no adequate words. I've heard of little snippets of that kind of passive-agression in my own family, but never to that degree. Sounds like a venomous, vicious sadist. I wouldn't blame them for dumping her in a hellhole retirement home. No guilt to be had.

18
Other Games / Re: Ascension?
« on: September 25, 2017, 11:57:31 PM »
Ah, that explains it. What sets do you have up to, and I'll make sure to not include them on new challenges.

It's a shame, I've been having fun doing test games via AI using every second set (usually the booster to the new-gimmick sets) and still winning handily, even against the hard AI. (just finished a quick game that I won 150~ to 70~, surprising even me.) The new mechanics are interesting to play with. Rally, multi-unite, and transform cards are interesting without being gimmicky. Treasure cards are.. complex, I kinda wish they'd done more with it than just shards, but I can see why they didn't get there. I like energy but it's too reliant on shards, which can get oddly thin in a multi-set game. I'm still betting we're gonna get a set that introduces a generic construct of some kind, to go alongside the mystics/heavy infantry.

19
Other Games / Re: Ascension?
« on: September 25, 2017, 07:59:15 PM »
So, why is it every time the Rat King comes out, you banish it right away? Is leaving the rats out just sort of a fuck-you to the other player? You can’t afford to defeat it with power (thus getting both its honor AND all the rats’), so you rob the other player of being able to do so, getting no reward yourself?

20
Other Games / Re: Ascension?
« on: September 10, 2017, 02:34:29 AM »
...Maybe a few too many games? I have trouble keeping track of progress or strategies. Any wins I've gotten are entirely blunt luck.

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