Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Generic_PC

Pages: [1]
1
Other RPGs / Shadowrun 4e -- Building a Hacker:
« on: February 24, 2013, 04:21:11 AM »
Hey guys,

I'm building my first Hacker archetype character in SR4(A). As such, I'd like a little bit of advice: I have no idea what sorts of programs are actually useful, and I'm flip-flopping between Technomancer and a Hacker/Rigger with a commlink right now. (Though leaning towards the commlink Hacker)

What are the most useful programs? How hard is it to build a Hacker with drones? Should I have rank 4 Cracking/Electronics groups? If I go Technomancer, what sprites should I be looking at compiling most often? Is it worthwhile to get any 'ware and drop my Resonance? Hell, if I go hacker, should I be dropping my essence as close to 0 as possible? Any other common pitfalls to avoid?


2
Min/Max 3.x / Re: No loops/ infinite, how high-op can a lvl3 wizard be for a war/army campaign?
« on: June 26, 2012, 04:33:38 AM »
Quote from: awaken_D_M_golem on June 25, 2012, 06:31:05 PM
Alter Self(s) with Assume Supernatural feat
and a book by book dumpster dive for abilities.

This is kind of funny because Gavinfoxx already thought of Alter Self. The MW planning thread is full of reasons why Alter Self is borked.

Quote from: Nameless Void on June 25, 2012, 01:51:34 AM
Sustained damage for free.

Alternately, you might want to look at Acidic Splatter. They're both pretty similar, however.

Honestly though, you're not going to convince Callous of anything at level 3. At level 5, you'd be better off, but your true battlefield ruining power isn't going to show up until level 9 (that is, spell level 5). You're still going to be versatile and useful in all situations where you have spells, but I don't think you'll be crazy broken.

3
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Alternative to item weight in Inventory
« on: June 14, 2012, 12:43:32 PM »
Quote from: Unbeliever on June 14, 2012, 11:20:22 AM
I don't even know if we're strict about the divine focus component b/c it hardly ever comes up.

Yeah, in our group, divine spellcasters can have their holy symbol anywhere: on their platemail, for Clerics or Paladins. As their weapon, if they're more martial. As long as they have a holy symbol or something similar nearby, they can cast.

4
Gaming Advice / Some questions about fighters: (DND3.5)
« on: June 14, 2012, 02:05:51 AM »
I'll just jump right in:

First, are there any good ways to focus on using Improvised Weapons? As in, any ways that don't require Monk entry (Drunken Master...)

Second, The Fighter's Handbook has some good information in it, but nothing about prestige classes. Since Fighter is a class that one usually wants to get out of as soon as possible, can someone on the board point me to some good ones?

5
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Building a Psychic Warrior:
« on: May 29, 2012, 11:05:19 PM »
Quote from: awaken_D_M_golem on May 29, 2012, 06:57:20 PM
... or you could go Monk 1 / Druid X and just take some psi flavor.

No, I'd really prefer to stick to Psychic Warrior: part of this is playing a system I've never used. Which is why I really want the power advice, other than Grip of Iron and Expansion...


6
Min/Max 3.x / Building a Psychic Warrior:
« on: May 29, 2012, 05:38:05 PM »
Hey there CO,

So, I'm looking at building a 10th level hero using the Psychic Warrior as a chassis. The biggest problem is that I have no real experience with Psionics at all, but I'd also like to have some good alternate combat techniques. Specifically, I'm liking the idea of Expansion -> Grappling. Any book is available, but I'd prefer to keep it simple.

So, with that in mind, my current questions:

Monk 2? Worthwhile dip for this kind of character? Monk as a class is pretty heavily houseruled, with things like full BAB.

Swordsage worth a dip? It loses me some BAB, but gives me Setting Sun. Throws are awesome. Stuff like Child of Shadows for some extra defense can't hurt either. I just need to have Adaptive Style.

Similarly, getting out of Psychic Warrior and into Slayer as quickly as possible? Good idea?

Good power choices?

For those of you who are curious, my current build is:

Monk 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Slayer 6 (Yeah, thats pretty much it)

I've got a homebrew race that can become an animal a couple times a day, becoming large size, gaining 3 natural attacks and getting a few other bonuses, which is why I like the idea of grappling. I've also got Powerful Build when I'm not in beast mode.

Until I figure out what direction is actually good for this kind of hero, I'm not assigning feats yet. I have a couple fighter feats and basically every other feat barring 1 (for entrance into Slayer) is open. So... min/max!

If you need any additional info, feel free to ask.

7
General D&D Discussion / Re: "Applied" Min/Maxing and you
« on: May 28, 2012, 03:00:15 PM »
Optimizing in-game (or before it, for chargen) can be really simple. If you start a game at level 3, don't worry about how the character would play at level 1. Whisper Gnome is better than the PHB Gnome for pretty much any build. Strongheart Halfling usually trumps the PHB Halfling. Water Orc is a free +2 Con over the MM Orc. Dragonborn is a great template to get rid of things like the Orc's light sensitivity.

I think the problem is that people look at optimizing as making your character the best character in its niche, rather than just improving it. Optimized is a comparative term: nothing you use in a game will be optimized compared to Pun-Pun, but compared to the Monk who is focusing on running fast?

Looking, in particular, at caster design: the last caster I played was a Wizard. His first level spells were Sleep and Colour Spray, plus whatever else I had that I can't remember. I could have had Magic Missiles, but Sleep ended every encounter it was used in, and I could plink away at enemies with my crossbow when I didn't feel like a spell was justified. When I used Colour Spray, 3 or 4 enemies were knocked out, removing them from the fight. That makes those spells far more damaging to a group of bad guys than Magic Missile, and therefore, optimized compared to your average evocation focusing caster. Did I try and pump the will save DCs? Not really. I was a PHB Gnome, not a Whisper Gnome, and I was only using PHB spells, so I probably didn't have the BEST spells in 3.5 in my spellbook. Optimization, in a game, is all comparative, as opposed to the TO builds which are usually built in isolation.

8
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Modified Gestalt Ideas
« on: May 28, 2012, 02:40:48 PM »
If you're particularly attached to Crusader, Crusader//Bard can be pretty fun for a team-oriented tank. High BAB, 3 good saves and 6+Int skills from a good list is a great chassis, and the bards passive buffing abilities mesh well, thematically, with White Raven Maneuvers.

I would also recommend looking very carefully at Incarnum: they're never a bad choice, and usually quite a good one!

9
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Some Bow/Wizard silliness
« on: May 28, 2012, 02:06:55 PM »
Quote from: spacemonkey555 on May 28, 2012, 02:49:34 AM
Knowing the future isn't metagaming in D&D, there are rules for it.

In this case though, the Wizard/Tortiose doesn't know what has caused him to roll for initiative. Barring contingencies or other silliness that I'm ignoring right now, there is no way he'd know that someone 30800 feet away had just fired an arrow at him.

Admittedly, if your DM asks you to roll for initiative, the average player is going toput up some defenses, even if they're just running to the trees (or whatever) for cover. If they don't actually know what's attacking them though (I.E. they have no reason to actually have changed their normal actions, which would be walking down the road, I suppose) then that move into cover is definitely metagaming.

10
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Some Bow/Wizard silliness
« on: May 27, 2012, 09:56:05 PM »
Quote from: caelic on May 27, 2012, 05:56:07 PM
I think this is on the money.  Let's be honest here, exploiting the Dire Tortoise's automatic surprise round in a situation like this is pretty silly, since it's supposed to represent its ability to remain undetected until it attacks.  It's yet another astoundingly poorly conceived rule.  That being the case, if we're going to go by RAW, "getting a surprise round" does NOT give the tortoise knowledge that there's a threat.  Determining that there's a threat because the DM said "Roll for initiative" is metagaming, pure and simple.

I think this is the answer closest to what I was feeling. I'm not going to say it is right, but I just wanted to point out that I agree with you.

11
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Some Bow/Wizard silliness
« on: May 27, 2012, 04:34:13 AM »
I'm just going to ignore the Zeno's Paradox!

As far as I know though, attacks are considered instantaneous in D&D3.5.

Quote from: JohnnyMayHymn on May 27, 2012, 04:21:18 AM
EDIT: how does the archer know the tortoise is there?

I'm not sure why this matters: in this hypothetical situation, I suppose a chain of commoners could have transmitted the knowledge from some commoner closer to the wizard with a spyglass (Talking is a free action, therefore its like instant target placement!), or the archer could have a chain of eyes to see him with, or anything, really. Let's just assume detection and targeting doesn't set off any suspicions/contingency defenses with this wizard.

Quote from: JohnnyMayHymn on May 27, 2012, 04:21:18 AM
The archer is flat-footed the first round, then in subsequent rounds, the tortoise has already teleported.

I would say that the arrow starts combat: the archer wouldn't be in combat until after it was fired. If the combat was started before, the wizard would get a surprise round to react to an empty road or something like that, where (s)he'd have no idea (unless (s)he can see most of 31000 feet in every direction simultaneously all the time, which is probably possible for a wizard, but not perpetually) what (s)he was reacting to.

12
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Swordsage or Telflammar Shadowlord Build
« on: May 27, 2012, 04:12:13 AM »
I'm no FR guru, but I do know my way around the tome of battle. So...

For Swordsage, you're unquestionably awesome at being a mobile combatant. You don't have the HP pool of a primary combatant (Crusader!), so try to avoid being the main tank unless you've pumped your AC and maybe have some sort of miss chance (Child of the Shadows!). The only feat that is required on pretty much every Swordsage build is Adaptive Style, because the Swordsage recovery mechanic is absolutely atrocious.

Other than that general guideline though... What schools do you want to focus on? Setting Sun lets you bring some battlefield control to the table, while Desert Wind lets you hit the entire battlefield (usually considered a subpar tactic here, and since Fire is the most resisted of damage types... be warned). Tiger Claw is great for two weapon fighting. Shadow Hand is awesome for debuffing. Diamond Mind is a school that no one should ignore completely, because it has the great ability to replace a fortitude save with a concentration check (Mind over Body, l3), and other wonderful things like the ability to make a touch attack (Emerald Razor, l2) and the ability to have a massive number of attacks (Avalanche of Blades, l8). Lastly, Stone Dragon isn't a school to focus in, but it does have excellent utility in things like breaking through walls, gaining some DR and immobilizing (or otherwise removing actions) from enemies.

If you specify here, myself or someone else can give you more Swordsage advice.

13
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: [3.5] Need some recommended classes for low-power campaign
« on: May 27, 2012, 02:25:30 AM »
If you're still looking for advice, Marshal from the Miniatures Handbook might be worth taking a look at.

14
Min/Max 3.x / Some Bow/Wizard silliness
« on: May 27, 2012, 02:23:40 AM »
Hey CO,

I've been gone awhile! I can't find the "Post a Question" thread, so... A question I was inspired with by one of the Wizard vs. Challenger threads on the old board:

The situation is this: your average, insanely paranoid wizard is wandering around as a dire tortoise. (For those not in the know, dire tortoises always get to act in the surprise round, even if they are the ones being surprised). Some crazy archer is planning on taking this wizard out. I'm thinking of one of the builds that can fire arrows from thousands of feet away (see this topic on the old board here. The post in question is in the spoiler:
(click to show/hide)

So, this archer with a range of 30800 feet is firing from his extreme range (Because, here on min/max, we don't do anything halfway!). Here is when things get muddy. Does the arrow automatically hit, no matter where the wizard runs, if the archer was going to hit on his attack (Because most attacks are considered instantaneous)? Presumably the tortoise gets to act, but does it act during the arrow's flight? If he acts as soon as he is shot at, he probably has multiple rounds of wondering what the heck is actually attacking him before the arrow actually comes down on him. If he moves at all, does the arrow miss? Is an arrow shot from such long range still considered an instantaneous attack?

Essentially, the question is how the interrupting ability interacts with things that are completely out of the wizard's ability to influence, under normal situations?

15
Introduce Yourself / Generic Introduction
« on: May 15, 2012, 01:58:57 AM »
Or maybe not?

What's up y'all? I was on the old boards, but my last post was around 14 months ago. I have more time now, with exams over and a mindless summer job on the way, so I figured I'd check out the forums, and I found out they'd moved! Thats cool! Figured I'd check these new ones out!

I've sort of drifted away from tabletop gaming, but I still love the system optimization aspects. I mostly posted on the min.max forum at the old site, so hopefully I can still scratch that itch here.

As it is though, I don't actually play any tabletop games. Very sad. I'd love the chance to play some Shadowrun, or at least pretend to. Currently, the game I play the most is League of Legends, and I'd love to have people to play with in that. (This might change in the near future, since Diablo 3 drops tomorrow...)

Signed,

Generic_PC

Pages: [1]