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Meta Board => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: Tshern on April 08, 2017, 09:02:33 PM

Title: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 08, 2017, 09:02:33 PM
Hiya all,

I've been here before, but due to some changes in my life, I think that is acceptable. Perhaps some of you remember me, perhaps not. However, I will attempt to be here from this day forward.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on April 08, 2017, 09:05:57 PM
Hiya all,

I've been here before, but due to some changes in my life, I think that is acceptable. Perhaps some of you remember me, perhaps not. However, I will attempt to be here from this day forward.
Long time no see.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 08, 2017, 09:08:39 PM
Hiya all,

I've been here before, but due to some changes in my life, I think that is acceptable. Perhaps some of you remember me, perhaps not. However, I will attempt to be here from this day forward.
Long time no see.
Holy crap, you are still here! A pleasure and an honour, as always! Bloody hell, nice to see you!
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 08, 2017, 09:13:17 PM
Hiya all,

I've been here before, but due to some changes in my life, I think that is acceptable. Perhaps some of you remember me, perhaps not. However, I will attempt to be here from this day forward.
Long time no see.
Oh, meant to ask.. Did anyone crack the Iron Siege yet?
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on April 08, 2017, 09:23:36 PM
Holy crap, you are still here! A pleasure and an honour, as always! Bloody hell, nice to see you!
I'm pretty much settled into my day-to-day for the rest of my life so it's hard to get rid of me :p

Oh, meant to ask.. Did anyone crack the Iron Siege yet?
You mean there are people that failed? Dude I got as far as stuff like lv40, 18 divine ranks, epic spells, and planar bubble were allowed and Spelldancer/Mystra/etc didn't make the ban list before I auto-declared a win.

Srsly, you don't even need to fight him. Like Spend 98k on a Mirror of Opposition, it's even a Core item, out of your tens of millions of a lv40's WBL and he has to square off with up to four clones of him self. We'ed be spending months banning most of my brain from competing.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: phaedrusxy on April 08, 2017, 11:05:49 PM
Welcome back, Tshern.  :D

No, no one beat the Iron Siege... but I don't know if much was done with it after you left, either. I still have my entrant saved, but... I don't know when I'd ever have time for that, now... lol Maybe between April 18th and May 9th... My wife and kids will be out of town, heh.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: bhu on April 09, 2017, 12:02:55 AM
Tshern!!!  :jumping
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Stratovarius on April 09, 2017, 12:45:22 AM
Rolling old school! Welcome back :D
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on April 09, 2017, 02:27:28 AM
No, no one beat the Iron Siege...
Really? Invent your own supermegawidened Dimensional Lock or Forbiddence effect. Grab a Reverine Ethereal Reaver, shift over to the Ethereal Plane, and simply walk in and start whaling on him. None of his abilities cross planar boundaries nor does he have any ability to Planes Shift over unless he turns tail and runs away advocating the throne to you like a cowardly outsider that'll never command the fear and respect of his follow demon/devils again. So his one, and only one, option is to sunder the blade of your sword. Except it's immune to damage so he has to successfully Distinction it first and the Will Save on that is only DC 38 or so. Heck you would even use his highest Save DCs, 64. If you assign 16 Divine Ranks of the eighteen you were given to the same character you get a +75 bonus to rolls for ability score generation automatically taking you to the ability cap of +30, and at 70HD even a poor Will Save comes out to +23, throw on a Vest of Resistance +10 rather than a much larger Epic Spell and you still only fail on a Natural 1 and have over thirty one Feats to pick up a Luck Reroll or two to negate that. There ya go, immunity to all but his Alter Reality access to Force Spells which caps him at using something like Wings of Flurry for CLd6/rnd. And the only reason he has that isn't some author foresight to counter basic tactics but all deities inherently have it as part of their lazy writing, including your characters.

And if you want to get even simpler, Monk 7 / Lion Totem Barbarian 1 / Outsider 62 with 16 Divine Ranks gets +20 Immediate Actions and can make a Skill Checks using them. You run in to attack him, he uses his 1st Immediate in response to make an Iron Curtain or something equally ignorable such as any 9th level Quickened Spell which he can't do anyway, so you use your 1st Immediate Action in response to that to Jump at him to trigger Mantis Leap to trigger a Pouncing Charge. Now he has to use his next Immediate Action to block the same exact tactic yet again and spoiler alert, he runs out first. So you charge him and he dies, his True Resurrection resolves, and you finish your first full-attack and he dies again. Because who can't deal three thousand damage per round using an uber charger before level 20? Edit - Just realized he has no noted Foresight or immunity to being Flat-Footed, you can negate all of his Immediate Actions by using Shadow Blend or even Darkstalker and simply beating his Spot Check.

There must be some kind of massive thing that's not mentioned in the thread. Like the Iron Tower has six hundred and sixty six clones in it that all have to be killed within six minutes or something. Oh, and it's a six hundred thousand mile wide fortress that it's entirely constructed out of moving Void Stone traps and twisting interlocking Mystic Admixtured Forbiddenance effects so you take like 18d6 damage for every 10ft you move and risk being wiped out of existence for a wrong step as punishment for being to hasty.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 09, 2017, 05:42:38 AM
Welcome back, Tshern.  :D

No, no one beat the Iron Siege... but I don't know if much was done with it after you left, either. I still have my entrant saved, but... I don't know when I'd ever have time for that, now... lol Maybe between April 18th and May 9th... My wife and kids will be out of town, heh.
Thank you kindly, it's nice to see you are still here as well! Had some hectic times, but it looks like things could be getting towards something I might call a routine. Thought it'd be nice to have a look here and it seems some of the old faces are still about!

Tshern!!!  :jumping
Heya, bhu! It's been a while, but at least you've still got the cat avatar. The best things never change.

Rolling old school! Welcome back :D
Yet another name I remember well! Thanks!
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 09, 2017, 06:21:47 AM
No, no one beat the Iron Siege...
Really? Invent your own supermegawidened Dimensional Lock or Forbiddence effect. Grab a Reverine Ethereal Reaver, shift over to the Ethereal Plane, and simply walk in and start whaling on him. None of his abilities cross planar boundaries nor does he have any ability to Planes Shift over unless he turns tail and runs away advocating the throne to you like a cowardly outsider that'll never command the fear and respect of his follow demon/devils again. So his one, and only one, option is to sunder the blade of your sword. Except it's immune to damage so he has to successfully Distinction it first and the Will Save on that is only DC 38 or so. Heck you would even use his highest Save DCs, 64. If you assign 16 Divine Ranks of the eighteen you were given to the same character you get a +75 bonus to rolls for ability score generation automatically taking you to the ability cap of +30, and at 70HD even a poor Will Save comes out to +23, throw on a Vest of Resistance +10 rather than a much larger Epic Spell and you still only fail on a Natural 1 and have over thirty one Feats to pick up a Luck Reroll or two to negate that. There ya go, immunity to all but his Alter Reality access to Force Spells which caps him at using something like Wings of Flurry for CLd6/rnd. And the only reason he has that isn't some author foresight to counter basic tactics but all deities inherently have it as part of their lazy writing, including your characters.

And if you want to get even simpler, Monk 7 / Lion Totem Barbarian 1 / Outsider 62 with 16 Divine Ranks gets +20 Immediate Actions and can make a Skill Checks using them. You run in to attack him, he uses his 1st Immediate in response to make an Iron Curtain or something equally ignorable such as any 9th level Quickened Spell which he can't do anyway, so you use your 1st Immediate Action in response to that to Jump at him to trigger Mantis Leap to trigger a Pouncing Charge. Now he has to use his next Immediate Action to block the same exact tactic yet again and spoiler alert, he runs out first. So you charge him and he dies, his True Resurrection resolves, and you finish your first full-attack and he dies again. Because who can't deal three thousand damage per round using an uber charger before level 20? Edit - Just realized he has no noted Foresight or immunity to being Flat-Footed, you can negate all of his Immediate Actions by using Shadow Blend or even Darkstalker and simply beating his Spot Check.

There must be some kind of massive thing that's not mentioned in the thread. Like the Iron Tower has six hundred and sixty six clones in it that all have to be killed within six minutes or something. Oh, and it's a six hundred thousand mile wide fortress that it's entirely constructed out of moving Void Stone traps and twisting interlocking Mystic Admixtured Forbiddenance effects so you take like 18d6 damage for every 10ft you move and risk being wiped out of existence for a wrong step as punishment for being to hasty.
I didn't think anyone had still put in all this effort! But there are things not mentioned in the thread, mostly regarding Dispater's spell choices and his inventory. Like other characters, he has access to the NPC wealth appropriate to his level. From what I remember, none of the contestants had any trouble with dealing enough damage though.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: ketaro on April 09, 2017, 06:33:37 AM
What's the Iron Siege?
Going off Soro's posts, it looks hilariously easy for something with such a strong name. Are there upgraded tiers? Iron is pretty low on the scale of materials. It's so mundane :p
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 09, 2017, 07:22:10 AM
What's the Iron Siege?
Going off Soro's posts, it looks hilariously easy for something with such a strong name. Are there upgraded tiers? Iron is pretty low on the scale of materials. It's so mundane :p
There is a link in my signature. But long story short, it's a challenge where the contestants attempt to kill Dispater, the ruler of the second layer of Baator. It uses the divine rank system and the Nine Hells lore made by Dicefreaks, who put a lot of effort into giving the most powerful devils some much needed punch. The levels are very, very high and it's mostly an exercise in theoretical optimisation and finding the best ways to give the one managing the contest the most powerful headaches.

As for Soro's posts, I feel he is simplifying the matter a bit. Dealing enough damage has never been a serious issue. I'd argue that the biggest problem is that you are playing against a fellow optimiser and doing so in a hostile environment. I am eternally grateful for phaedrusxy, who graciously acted as my moderator in the challenge.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: ketaro on April 09, 2017, 08:09:17 AM
So this looks like a thing solved by falling objects. Or that's what I went to when I read mobile fortresses are allowed. -_-'
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 09, 2017, 08:11:15 AM
So this looks like a thing solved by falling objects. Or that's what I went to when I read mobile fortresses are allowed. -_-'
It's all a bit complicated and I'm rusty as hell when it comes to D&D. I might try to pick that up sooner or later just to show that the simplest strategies are unlikely to work  :)
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Nanshork on April 09, 2017, 01:35:51 PM
Welcome back!
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: awaken_D_M_golem on April 09, 2017, 02:23:23 PM
Tshern!!!  :jumping

Heya, bhu! It's been a while, but at least you've still got the cat avatar. The best things never change.

my kitty avatar's Tail  then is not sure whether to do something unspeakable or not (like saying welcome back in a tail-erific sort of way).
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 09, 2017, 04:04:23 PM
Tshern!!!  :jumping

Heya, bhu! It's been a while, but at least you've still got the cat avatar. The best things never change.

my kitty avatar's Tail  then is not sure whether to do something unspeakable or not (like saying welcome back in a tail-erific sort of way).
Damn, you are still rattling the cages here as well? Good to see you and your quite terrifying avatar!
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on April 09, 2017, 10:30:06 PM
What's the Iron Siege?
I'm not 100% sure my self but as I understand it as a tl;dr version your level 80~100hd 18th rank deity character faces a 48hd devil with circumstantially granted 18 divine ranks whose only real threatening ability is it's divine ranks which give it a nerfed version of the Salient Ability Alter Reality allowing it to cast any 9th level Spell ever printed. So to start with you have more than the BBEG does and it's advertised as a Theoretical Optimization Challenge because
I'd argue that the biggest problem is that you are playing against a fellow optimiser and doing so in a hostile environment.
You engage in a contest with a DM who will use rule 0 to subsequently ban the official WotC material you're using to win. >.>

So really it's not a challenge, but just another thread asking what to ban for a balanced game except the grading rubic is a little absurd.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Chemus on April 09, 2017, 10:46:55 PM
...aaaannd Welcome back Tshern!
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 10, 2017, 04:26:04 PM
What's the Iron Siege?
I'm not 100% sure my self but as I understand it as a tl;dr version your level 80~100hd 18th rank deity character faces a 48hd devil with circumstantially granted 18 divine ranks whose only real threatening ability is it's divine ranks which give it a nerfed version of the Salient Ability Alter Reality allowing it to cast any 9th level Spell ever printed. So to start with you have more than the BBEG does and it's advertised as a Theoretical Optimization Challenge because
I'd argue that the biggest problem is that you are playing against a fellow optimiser and doing so in a hostile environment.
You engage in a contest with a DM who will use rule 0 to subsequently ban the official WotC material you're using to win. >.>

So really it's not a challenge, but just another thread asking what to ban for a balanced game except the grading rubic is a little absurd.
I didn't realise it could still evoke reactions as strong as this  :D
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Nanshork on April 10, 2017, 04:45:57 PM
SorO has strong reactions to lots of things.  You should see him and oslecamo going at it.  :P
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Stratovarius on April 10, 2017, 05:39:08 PM
SorO has strong reactions to lots of things.  You should see him and oslecamo going at it.  :P

From a safe distance only. :P
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on April 10, 2017, 05:57:17 PM
Think I'll be checking the 3.5 minmax forum tomorrow or the day after. If their fireworks are there, guess I'll see them! A lot to catch up with (obviously I can't or won't read all of the stuff), but hoping to get the lay of the land again. Really nice to see there's a bunch of familiar faces about.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Stratovarius on April 10, 2017, 06:55:57 PM
More over in the home brew forums - oslecamo and myself are probably the two most prolific ones left standing after slow attrition. Never let it be said that one person's idea couldn't be another person's bugbear.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Nanshork on April 10, 2017, 07:24:17 PM
Also if you haven't already check the stickied thread on the homepage.  The board is going through another migration (less destructive this time).
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: bhu on April 10, 2017, 11:50:59 PM
More over in the home brew forums - oslecamo and myself are probably the two most prolific ones left standing after slow attrition. Never let it be said that one person's idea couldn't be another person's bugbear.

Ahem...
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Chemus on April 11, 2017, 12:28:25 AM
...uh are you trying to say that you do a little homebrew, bhu? I never noticed... :eh
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on April 11, 2017, 12:29:58 AM
I didn't realise it could still evoke reactions as strong as this  :D
Huh? Is that a strong reaction? No wonder you guys have so many problems :p

If their fireworks are there, guess I'll see them!
You're a tad late for the worst of it.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Stratovarius on April 11, 2017, 06:21:39 AM
More over in the home brew forums - oslecamo and myself are probably the two most prolific ones left standing after slow attrition. Never let it be said that one person's idea couldn't be another person's bugbear.

Ahem...

Sorry bhu! Slipped my mind :/
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: bhu on April 17, 2017, 09:13:11 PM
 :hug
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Stratovarius on April 17, 2017, 09:34:41 PM
 :blush   :flutter
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: PlzBreakMyCampaign on July 08, 2017, 02:01:40 PM


What's the Iron Siege?
your level 80~100hd 18th rank deity character faces a 48hd devil with circumstantially granted 18 divine ranks whose only real threatening ability is it's divine ranks which give it a nerfed version of the Salient Ability Alter Reality allowing it to cast any 9th level Spell ever printed.

it's advertised as a Theoretical Optimization Challenge because ... You engage in a contest with a DM who will use rule 0 to subsequently ban the official WotC material you're using to win.

just another thread asking what to ban for a balanced game except the grading rubic is a little absurd.
I didn't realise it could still evoke reactions as strong as this  :D
SorO has strong reactions to lots of things.  You should see him and oslecamo going at it.  :P
*shrug* he just doesn't get subtle hints when people desire less direct politer conversation, I think. That and ignoring the "if you don't have to anything nice to say..." mantra. He's been doing better recently.

No, no one beat the Iron Siege...
Really?

[optimized ways to beat him up, once you're near]
[yes], none of the contestants had any trouble with dealing damage
I don't recall any contestant actually getting to meet Dispater. Plane shift only gets you to a layer that isn't his. Getting from their to his layer isn't tough, but I seem to recall that the iron fortress isn't geographically consistent enough to teleport to/into once you're there. You'll have to walk.

I did see someone get to the outside of the fortress but there was no door. That was when Tshern left (before BG crashed). At the time it peaked my interest. It has again. I'm considering throwing up a thread to see if anyone wants it revamped but continued.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Garryl on July 08, 2017, 02:33:17 PM
No, no one beat the Iron Siege...
Really?

[optimized ways to beat him up, once you're near]
[yes], none of the contestants had any trouble with dealing damage
I don't recall any contestant actually getting to meet Dispater. Plane shift only gets you to a layer that isn't his. Getting from their to his layer isn't tough, but I seem to recall that the iron fortress isn't geographically consistent enough to teleport to/into once you're there. You'll have to walk.

I did see someone get to the outside of the fortress but there was no door. That was when Tshern left (before BG crashed). At the time it peaked my interest. It has again. I'm considering throwing up a thread to see if anyone wants it revamped but continued.

While I have no interest in actually going through the full deal of it, I had considered a few theoretical concepts that I'd wanted to look into. The only one I actually remember was Ardent 10 + Dominant Ideal ACF (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) + Linked Power + Synchronicity + Bestow Power for functionally infinite arbitrary readied actions (and similarly unlimited PP, but that's kinda minor at that point). An augmented Synchronicity requires you to neither specify what you're going to do, nor the conditions you're going to do it under, it's all readied actions so you're preempting whatever might happen, and it's all in a single turn so nobody else even gets to act (except with AoOs and readied actions, which you can preempt with your even more readied actions). And if things do really pear shaped, you can still use Time Regression to never have done it at all for the low cost of 1000 xp (assuming you can't use one of your readied actions to preempt yourself all the way back at the beginning in response to the specific sequence of events you took across who knows how many actions, thus stopping you from taking them in the first place).
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: PlzBreakMyCampaign on July 12, 2017, 06:26:51 PM
I understand that it doesn't seem worth it if infinite actions or other TO is allowed (it should all be already patched out via dirty handbook fixes), but in addition I was considering scaling things down so Time Regression wouldn't be available since its a 9th. No 9ths also gets rid of the usual research truename -> Wish exploit, for instance.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: awaken_D_M_golem on July 13, 2017, 05:23:40 PM
Dis's ~peanut gallery warning ... Dis, Mammon + Mephisto are aligned, against Fierna, the Hag Countess + Baal, with Bel + Levistus technically on Asmo's "side", while Asmo plays them all against each other.

Were something resembling the 2e elements of 3e planar stuff, Asmo could always  send out a legion (100?) of Pit Fiends to straighten things out ... his way of course.

 :flutter :devil
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Tshern on May 13, 2018, 08:54:05 PM
Tough times, but I lurk again. Sorry to everyone I may have disappointed by going AWOL.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: phaedrusxy on May 13, 2018, 10:44:51 PM
Welcome back.  :D
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: Nanshork on May 14, 2018, 09:05:50 AM
Long time no see!

We're under new management in case you didn't know.
Title: Re: Yo
Post by: SorO_Lost on May 14, 2018, 11:33:40 AM
Not really, you've all been my ***** for awhile now.
Welcome back.  :cheers