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Messages - PlzBreakMyCampaign

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181
General D&D Discussion / Criticism of a random inflamatory D&D blog
« on: August 03, 2017, 07:30:09 PM »
https://www.livingdice.com/7729/ten-dumb-things-dd-wont-change/

  • Attribute mods: He wants the math to be more complex. No seriously. You can remove them, but then you have fractions rather than integers. Or your can double everything. It's like he doesn't consider how to change this. I suppose he's welcome to show us how its done and do all the re-balancing work, though. I won't hold my breath.
  • Wizard spells: Fluff is mutable. Is the spell prepared spell or not? Neeeeeeext
  • Monks: 5e problems compared to the 5th tier 3e class.
  • Saves: You mean the defenses after position, AC, SR, and immunities?
  • AC: armor & shield boni can instead boost DR. Yes, DR should apply to all damage. He got this one right. :)
  • Annoying Deaths: He wants permadeath. Okay. But most folks around here say that death means a reroll, since that "annoyance" makes you poorer and more likely to die again even more. He seems to have a problem with mechanics he hasn't fully considered the reprecussions of. Perhaps he's more worried about maintaining fluff, despite high level casters being rare, much less peasants being able to afford 5k all at once.
  • Too many casters: Well, yes 3e is caster edition. But the solution is to nerf them, not somehow conglomerate all of their power into one giant monolith. Won't somebody please think of the balance? He is correct that the prepared vs spontaneous division is down awkwardly. Again, the solution is to nerf the higher powered one so that prepared can't prepare more than one of the same spell. Then it simply becomes "lots:1/each" vs "few:SPAM-SPAM-SPAM!" Simple. But he's wrong about paladins and rangers being forced to be casters (See CW ACFs) and that the spell lists are the same with bards. Although casters do need nerfs, I'll again point out that I've balanced them simply and relatively quickly without ham-handed bans.
  • Power Gaming: because races are where all the power is? Lol. Anyway does ya want racial customization, or not? If you do, there will be more powerful combinations than others. By the way, dwarf druids are more powerful than, say, half-elf ones. So, yes, I do want a dwarf druid, for sure. Unless humans are on the table. They are the "other" best core race. Its a toss up between them when it comes to druids. As a minmaxer I'm doing exactly what he said I wouldn't (in core only), but maybe he has been called stupid many times before...
  • Alignment: LOL. Spoken like a true neutral. I think he's proving the point about humans' general alignment in D&D. It's like terrorists blowing up people to prove how peaceful their philosophies are.  :banghead Extra points for sounding like a comic book villian.
  • Magic items: aren't made nearby. They come from planes people haven't even heard of. There's just ferried into somewhere nearby. I know it sounds crazy, unless you've ever been to a retail store ever in your life. Anyways his numbers about magic items versus GDP is way off. Eventually a party will get there, in which case you won't be "plucky adventurers" saving little kingdoms anymore. They'd be teleporting to their cushy hide out, wearing their rings of sustanence. He's just plain wrong about having to sell items to upgrade them (see MIC rules). Again, he's off about how much a solid silver castle would actually be appraised at. This is what happens when you don't take ranks in appraise.  :P

"Chris Tavares Dias is the literary equivalent of that crusty burnt cheese at the bottom of the fondue pot." Also after most of the comments disagreed, he closed them. Extra lol.

182
Very nice.

But all you want is help sorting 5 categories:
1) No content
2) Content
3) Rules discussions
4) Ideas
5) Humor

And that's it? How does one query for only "rules discussion" threads?

183
Creations & Ephemera / Re: Liberty Prime@LibertyPrimeUSA
« on: August 03, 2017, 06:51:00 PM »
I thought this was going to be about Afghanistan and the USSR wanting Iranian oil. Never mind. It's just blurbs taken out of context. I don't know why I got my hopes up over intelligent conversation. Just fascism and poor satire. Sigh.

184
Creations & Ephemera / Re: Museum of African American History
« on: August 03, 2017, 06:47:36 PM »
Lol aDMg, no one's touching this with a stick. I'll bite.

Well that was nice of Bush. So no one's going to ask the obvious question here about how & why we divide history?

185
Game Design / Re: Implications for Spell List Mechanics
« on: August 03, 2017, 06:39:05 PM »
*Pokes head in*
I'll add a pet peeve of mine: ToB is a nightmare if you are lucky enough to be looking up a specific maneuver. "Uh, what discipline was that in again? Grrr time to go look through many pages rather one spot like any other PHB spell..."

Design space is good, but playing a game works like this:
Quote
1) Read over abilities in whatever order they are provided. HTMLis the wonderful for this.
2) "Oh I like that spell, how do I get that?" aka its a wizard spell. If you're working off descriptors, how the heck is a player going to know what classes have access to what descriptors once they've found a nice thing that they want?
3) Planning begins on getting nice things. This stage "kills" a lot of character ideas for systems not flexible enough to accommodate the player.
4) Play begins so players can work up to having fun with those nice things.

D&D is great at doing the above. Well, the SRD is. Otherwise you need to use my sorted spells spreadsheet. In fact, I was doing this process just today and forgot about it until writing this sentence. So, uh, can someone elaborate on "the problems with this access mechanism"? Is it just the fact that the designers didn't know their own game (aka all the base classes that had casting when adding spells or all the spells when adding base classes)? Is it because players enjoy making "all the things" builds where they have lots of options?

We have to be careful that we aren't blaming the structure of 3.5's casting system, rather than its actual spell text. Clearly there are a lot of broken spells.

186
What I meant with my earlier comment was that instantaneous spells or ones you can discharge are not immune to Persistent spell shenanigans.
That depends on your interpretation of if the printed labeling defines the type of spell or if the practical values do.
Huh?
My bolding and coloring. I agree that every spell that goes "pop" and ends early (or is printed with the word "discharged") cannot be persisted.

Tshern was saying that various other shenanigans would get around that. Presumably he thought that changing the duration of a spell made it no longer considered a dischargable spell (correct me if I'm wrong). I was explaining why I thought that idea was a little abusive: because even if you change the duration, the spell's duration text line might still disqualify the spell. It's being a bit of a stickler, but it does help balance.

187
Min/Max 3.x / Re: What initiator/psionic PrCs exist in the magazines?
« on: August 03, 2017, 04:48:14 PM »
Of course you do have to worry about DMs throwing books when Bloodlines get involved  :flutter
If your DM wants to use interpretations that are broken, then he doesn't deserve to get mad about his choice. If he wants to use RAW but balanced interpretations, then he won't throw books because there will be no breaking of his campaign. Either way you're fine. See the handbook.

Of course, you're welcome to to use the balanced interpretation try to break them harder than anything I've come up with. Just be careful what you're sticking to.

188
Board Business / Re: A New Home
« on: August 02, 2017, 07:30:48 PM »
0) I agree with putting Play By Post (and its child boards) to Creative Corner

Converting Strat's opening post into a delta format (where underlined is a grouping, bold is a board and quotes is a child board):
Quote
1) Off topic -> Metaboard
2) Playground -> Metaboard
3) Bitch like you have to -> Metaboard
4) "Ask A Question" -> Gaming Advice
5) "Polling Place" -> Gaming Advice
*6) "Min/Max 4th Ed" pulled out -> Dungeons & Dragons General
*7) D&D 5e -> Gaming Discussion
8) New "Min Max 5th" created inside the newly moved D&D 5e area
9) Kitchen Sink becomes Other RPGs
10) Other RPGs -> Gaming Discussion
11) new Video Games created to be with the Other RPGs & Other tabletops area
12) Plug & Promote -> Creative Corner
13) likewise, Your game Here -> Creative Corner along with the above
?14) Does Conventions Meetups and Events threads probably get moved into Off Topic ?
15) Talespinning, Campaign Journals, & When Inspiration Strikes are neighbors in ... Legends of the Heroes? Is that a DotA/MoBA reference? Its sounds like a HoN and LoD conglomeration I'm unaware of.
16) Mechanical Writing is renamed Game Design
*17,18,19,20) The Handbooks get moved into their own grouping along with: Other Games, General References, & Resource Submission

This looks good! I only have two comments: A) 5e needn't get pulled out of general D&D, rather than keeping it there and putting a newly made 5e minmax inside 4e (similar to how 4e's is now).
B) The whole "Handbooks & Resources" is confusing, other than pulling the handbooks away from where it is. What goes in General References or Resource Submission? What about Other Games when that seems covered by Other RPGs, Video Games, and Other Tabletops?

I'm interested to see what's happening with Homebrew and its neighbor.

189
Handbook Discussion / Re: Fun Finds Thread: Crowdsource Edition!
« on: July 30, 2017, 05:49:04 PM »
Both are missing the Mercantile Background feat mentioned here:

Dragon 315 has a number of magic items from Sigil/the Outlands that are interesting. Range from eh to interesting, some of which follow:

Spireshard (+3 equiv): A creature dealt damage by this weapon must make a DC 19 will save or be unable to cast spells or use SLAs for 1d4 rounds. A creature cannot be affected by this property if they are already under the effect (ie: you can't extend the duration until after they get their abilities back).

Wrecker  (+1 equiv, bludgeoning only): This weapon ignores hardness.

Stealer (+1 equiv): +4 bonus on opposed checks to disarm an opponent, item disarmed 'sticks' to the striking surface of the Stealer weapon, can be moved to an open hand or dropped as a free action.


Feats:

Companion Guard Style (Regional, Gray Elf only): You can finesse the Longsword and/or the Longspear. You gain +2 to checks to confirm crits with any bow.

Greyhawk Method (Regional, Wizard): You add four new spells to your spellbook when you level up instead of 2. If you are a specialist, two of the new spells must be from your specialization school. You also add a bunch of things that should really already be wizard bonus feats to the wizard bonus feat list.

Lore of Ur-Flan (Regional): Add +2 to the save DCs of all necromancy spells you cast with the [Evil] descriptor. Stacks with other boosts.

Hardy Soul (Ancestor ): You gain +3 hit points. When you are dying you have a 25% chance to stabilize. Additionally, you are immune to death from massive damage.

Mercantile Background (Ancestor): You get an extra 300 gp at first level to spend on starting equipment. When you sell items (such as weapons or magic items), you get 75% of their value, not 50%. Additionally, once per month you may purchase any single item for 75% of the cost.

(Seems like a good way to get specific magic items if your DM is an asshat about magic item availability).

190
Other Games / Re: So, Steam hates me now
« on: July 30, 2017, 02:34:39 PM »
Yeah I think because I've already been called a spammer, I'm going to just own up. I'll buy my next game early and then become the scourge they fear.

Basically I'm going to perfect the ultimate "LET'S ALL SH|T ON VALVE" thread, and then spam it, subtly. I know they will be okay with this, because the whole point is they don't care about spam. They just want their extortion money.

191
Other Games / So, Steam hates me now
« on: July 28, 2017, 09:56:48 PM »
Over the last several days, I've noticed my Steam account & client doing increasingly odd things. It's gotten to the point where if I can't get them resolved, I think I'm thinking about just using reddit & pirating video games that I would otherwise buy. This is a big about-face for me because I was just starting to like their workshop & mod forums. Atleast on Nexus Mods I can use whatever browser or IP I feel like without constantly having to check a spam email "account for verification" codes.

To be fair, I've never really bought into the idea of DRM. Either you are going to like a game and support it monetarily, or you won't. Perhaps this is too black and white, but it doesn't seem like a simple issue to me. The fact that all of them are poorly coded, buggy, obstacles to your enjoyment doesn't help. For instance, try softlinking Blizzard's battlenet client post-install. See what happens.

The actual problem is that I one day found I could no longer reply to mod submissions for a AAA title I legally own that is only available through steam. I was starting to become a big member of a really cool gaming community. And then I simply couldn't post.

I tried going through their FAQ, but basically all it says is that since I am a prolific poster, their automatic system believes I am a spammer. So I went over to their help forum and found other people with my problem. No one had any resolutions other than "give Valve money." I thought it was laughable, until I saw everyone was serious.

The sheeple there actually think paying to post on public gaming forums is not a problem. Perhaps they've never heard of Reddit. Apparently years ago their TOS changed without anyone ever knowing. Now their "free" forums aren't free anymore. But they aren't behind a paywall, so I was never wise to the bait and switch they pulled.

Unlike a legitimate company, Steam has no support phone number. There is no live chat support. I put in an email ticket, but the status checking on it has been deleted. Their system won't let me make another because the first one was deleted without resolution. I even tried to post on a mod's wall to ask for help but ... I can't post there either.

The true irony is that I was about to buy another AAA title on steam. That's on indefinite pause, while I consider torrenting DRM free versions of the steam games I've already legally bought.

And to top it off, someone tried to purchase some playstation VR thing on my apple account (despite me recently changing the password to a long, complex string). I felt so relieved I had decided to stop using Apple's store (and let the card on file lapse) exactly to reduce my attack surfaces. I see no reason to start using Steams' store and take another risk. I know that the apple account hack had to have been on Apple's end because I had stopped using the account months ago. And Apple has far better security (and support) than Steam, which is basically just a shell company middle man.

What should I do? I refuse to pay extortion money to a company that clearly doesn't care just to post on forums. Am I just SOL?

192
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Sand Blaster
« on: July 25, 2017, 02:52:34 PM »
More lolz about me being serious.

Anyways, sorry for being cheeky in this post, but you're really going for the long haul on picking a fight with me and I've been putting forth what apparently is looking like too much wasted effort in an attempt to not throw any jabs at you of my own in return.
Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for are strong. Give yourself to the dark side. I'm looking forward to completing your training. In time, you will call me master and your self, Darth Witchcious.
Soro just won the thread.

193
You Break it You Buy it / Re: Hardfire: How to make a Tzar level nuke
« on: July 25, 2017, 02:40:51 PM »
Does evasion even work with ABT?

But yeah, quintessence is worse. Sickstone is just a DC13 fort save...

194
Handbook Discussion / Re: Template Handbook Discussion
« on: July 24, 2017, 02:41:38 PM »
 :love :love :love

195
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Re: Homebrew and House Rules
« on: July 20, 2017, 03:07:54 PM »
There's a few potential options under discussion. We'll probably make an announcement before going ahead with any changes.

You guys discuss things too slowly.  Be a forum dictator and just do what I know is best.  :P

Had I founded MMX, I would. I am trying to be diplomatic. :P
Since its been a few weeks, I'll weigh in that change keeps the boards alive. Whatever encourages people to post good stuff, you know?

196
Yes the hood would be an example of a standard D&D tank: "be careful and you probably won't die". A MegaTank is instead "I can take all the hits so the enemies don't have any damage left to give to the team."

A character who can survive the whole enemy team wailing on him for several rounds is "effectively immune" to HP damage.  I thought the whole strategy was to create a character who doesn't care how much damage he's taking, because he'll survive it?
I'll grant this. For instance in DotA Dazzle's Shallow Grave spell gives a six seconds buff where an ally can't die to from any amount of damage. The problem with bringing that into D&D, is that there are ways to make spells effectively never-ending. That's why these things are broken and I didn't bother discussing old hat (See sig). In DotA, there is a mode that allows this: "-WTF" mode. WTF mode is basically a joke, kind of like RAW D&D. No one plays it competitively. Instead everyone plays the fixed balanced version (cough sounds familiar).

Quote
I guess, where the next logical step is to talk about specific builds or tricks to become a Supertank and compare them to the status quo methods for "tanking" (which is to say, what you would call avoidance tanking or disabling).
I'm up for reviewing them, but I don't feel like making any. Just like I don't bother making regular DotA tanks anymore now that I'm used to making MegaTanks in LoD DotA.

197
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Dabus
« on: July 18, 2017, 06:48:20 PM »
There's also some similiar creatures in the Dragon Compendium.

198
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Sand Blaster
« on: July 18, 2017, 06:44:21 PM »
How my post isn't making sense to you because you're ignoring the quotes I'm responding to with those sentences of mine you're quoting?

I had to read that fragment a few times before I it made me lol. Thanks for that. Am I doing too much quoting or not enough? I'm sorry I can't take this thread seriously any more. I just can't read any of it with a straight face. I'd stop there, but you did ask something additional:

Quote
Please, PBMC, point me towards a Save DC in D&D that does not start at a base of 10 before modifiers, much less something that starts at almost a BASE of 20. Then you can make sarcastic jabs at me for supposedly not understanding something. Your apparent sarcastic jab at me for supposedly "never seen a DC=10+x+mod format in D&D before", that format is exactly what I was saying is suppose to be used as, to clarify for you once more, Kethrian was apparently using a "DC=17+x+mod" format
The answer is: a DC for a 7th level spell. Pretending the 17+mod format has a base save other than 10 is a misnomer (almost a BASE of 20). You can quote if this is incorrect, but I recall him using 10+7+mod rather than 17+x+mod as you list.

In case it hasn't been obvious, I don't care if the level of the ability applies here or there or wherever. Have something light hearted to make it allllllll better

199
if your caster is blowing his highest level Slots on Finger of Death to try and kill one enemy at a time per Slot then he's wasting his Slots to begin with.
I agree with this.

Still, the question becomes how to deal with the 5 minute work day when casters nova on the first encounter every day. Combat becomes trivial because casters who have winning save DCs just plain win when equipped with a decent SoD (unless the DM mysteriously makes all the monsters immune to that SoD...). Sure you can run 20 monster encounters all the time, but that stretches the imagination and time limits.

Some of the most powerful effects in the game, like wish or Ice Assassin, are designed to make you question using them and them rationing out rather then spamming them as your solution to everything because you're not supposed to have easy answers
You are right that the game would be better without them.

Quote
But like colleges & campuses everywhere. It's no longer about testing new ideas and learning from them but the suppression of dissenting opinions. Newer generations cannot stand to lose or be wrong about anything so no character deaths ever and "DMs" often dismiss anything that disagrees with them like some kind of tyrant that decides what is acceptable or not.
So true. But I never understood alignment threads. Alignments aren't rocket science.

Quote
why invest a ton of effort fixing something when there is already something that works?
So the solution was to go with 5e-style no SoD's? I think that's what everyone was saying. I was actually giving less compromise because I don't find immunity investment by PCs a problem. Also 5e still has turning people into a harmless sheep and gutting them, it seems. Because turning (people) into a sheep is fun.  :)

200
Min/Max 3.x / Re: What initiator/psionic PrCs exist in the magazines?
« on: July 18, 2017, 02:29:14 PM »
None. But remember that IL is advanced every other HD, for free. Basically your automatically theurging every other level without wasting ECL.

Also remember to use a major bloodline for even more IL without blowing on of your precious 20 pre-epic levels.

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