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Soniku
2007-09-04, 07:50 AM
Yes, it's me, back from my month of non-posting.

Why have I been away? Working day and night on a new campaign of course, and after managing to pick up a 220 page hardback copy of the slayers d20 from America (only £7 plus shipping) I just had to re-write the whole thing with cliche villains, dud magic items and obscure pop-culture references :smallbiggrin:

So, I decided after running my first session I would start up a thread for anyone who has the game, is interested in the game, wants to suggest some silly quests or just wants to read how stupidly my players have been acting.

For a brief overview of the game, The Slayers d20 comes in two parts: The D&D parody with endless stereotypes and jokes and the bloody and gritty parts which are often closer to WFRP than D&Ds high fantasy.

So anyway, my first sessions party consisted of:
Ryuk, the half black dragon bounty hunter who possessed inhuman strength, inhuman stupidity and a huge spiked chain that he liked to flail at any opportunity.
Alysia, the witch who fell over... a lot
And Candy, the pink haired rogue who had a whole two hit points and thus spent more time shouting at people about what they were doing wrong than actually being useful in combat.

So, the party met up in a restaurant (food being a big part of The Slayers and the great fortitude feat now giving +4 fort but requiring you to eat three times as much) and were quickly hired by the rogue to help her on her quest for the buried treasure of the legendary pirate-ninja Sasuke Black-beard. One quick timeskip later they were at the cave and using Ryuk as a meatshield proceeded to wander through the traps until they found a huge puzzle door with two locks and eight keys.
The witch wasn't exactly enjoying herself by this point, having been used as levitating transport to cross a large chasm, and proceeded to use a fireball. The rest of the party quickly dispatched the two recurring villains to-be and tossed them down said large chasm. The rogue quickly got to work on the large safe, but realized a minute in that you just can't pick a dial with a hairpin. Fortunately the big dumb fighter was at hand with his half-dragon blowtorch breath to break the hinges and reach the yummy treasure inside...
...which turned out to be a single gold piece and a note reading "You really think a legendary ninja-pirate would have saved all the loot and buried it? I spent it all on myself! Mwahahaha!".

Needless to say, the party was displeased at the rogues promised payment of 25% of the loot for protecting her, until they watched her fob it off to some black market dealer as an antique treasure of some sort.

I would go on but I would end up typing a page :smalleek: but to note a few other highlights of the session:

Accidentally admitting themselves to the mages guild after walking into the student exams,
The party witch and one of the two villains blowing up the mages guild library in a spell battle (both cast fireball at the same time, boom)
Running away from the town guard and angry mages,
And, of course, finding a talking spell book in a dungeon.


Well, I think I've blathered on enough about a topic that will most likely not get many replies, Slayers thread GO!

Randalor
2007-09-04, 10:48 AM
A friend picked up a copy of the D20 Slayers book for me at Gencon. I would love to run a session of it some time, seems like the perfect thing for my group.

ZebulonCrispi
2007-09-04, 11:19 AM
I thought this (http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebook-Roleplaying-Slipcased/dp/0786934107/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-4343621-7320418?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188922864&sr=8-1) was the Slayers d20 book.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-09-04, 11:48 AM
I thought the same thing when I saw it, but Slayers isn't quite D&D, not as much as say, Record of Lodoss War (Japan's Dragonlance).

The book looked fun, although I didn't actually buy it when I saw it. Also, are you aware you knocked off that "pirate's legendary treasure is but one single gold piece" from Daccat's Tomb in Skies of Arcadia? Of course, that single coin a) came with a moral lesson of teamwork and b) was worth about 10k in local currency to a collector...a very Slayers plot, actually.

Soniku
2007-09-04, 12:49 PM
Also, are you aware you knocked off that "pirate's legendary treasure is but one single gold piece" from Daccat's Tomb in Skies of Arcadia? Of course, that single coin a) came with a moral lesson of teamwork and b) was worth about 10k in local currency to a collector...a very Slayers plot, actually.

Yes, I got the idea of the legendary treasure being really naff from Skies of Arcadia, but since the players were level one and, well, slayers characters, I swapped the teamwork for numerous traps that would cause squabbling and awkwardness and down-valued the reward to a pouch of gold each (two for the rogue who was getting double in the first place). :smallbiggrin:

I do tend to steal little bits of different dungeons here and there because I like throwing in some things that I didn't think up myself. I find I can get a little predictable after a while so I just pinch a treasure or trap and bam, something the players would never have expected from me.

DeathQuaker
2007-09-04, 01:20 PM
I thought this (http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebook-Roleplaying-Slipcased/dp/0786934107/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-4343621-7320418?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188922864&sr=8-1) was the Slayers d20 book.

Realize you're being silly, but no, this is it:

Slayers d20 (http://www.amazon.com/Slayers-D20-System-Role-Playing-Game/dp/189452585X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6585991-0543323?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188929952&sr=1-1)

And I only point it out because it is a very good rule/setting book. It adapts the d20 system to the anime antics and high-power-level adventures that are the theme of Slayers and does it well, as far as I can tell. It also has a magic system that I think I actually like better than standard D&D.

Soniku, thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun.... just remember to let the party win the loot sometimes. They do need enough money to pay the restaurant bills after all. (Or at least get a noble-born party member to foot the bill, as some have assumed the actual Slayers did with Amelia.)

Nerd-o-rama
2007-09-04, 01:23 PM
And I only point it out because it is a very good rule/setting book. It adapts the d20 system to the anime antics and high-power-level adventures that are the theme of Slayers and does it well, as far as I can tell. It also has a magic system that I think I actually like better than standard D&D.
Of course it's better. D&D magic doesn't have the Dragon Slave spell.

Soniku
2007-09-04, 02:13 PM
Soniku, thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun.... just remember to let the party win the loot sometimes. They do need enough money to pay the restaurant bills after all.

That or they'll have to find the all you can eat for a silver piece restaurant :p

And yeah, the magic system is very well done, it lets mages feel a bit more high magic and powerful without actually making them unbalanced, while making warriors multiclassing into some spellcasting classes quite appealing. Sure, they won't be able to cast as big spells, but with d10 or d12 hp a level they won't have to worry about that thing called "restraint" at all.

Behold_the_Void
2007-09-04, 02:22 PM
Realize you're being silly, but no, this is it:

Slayers d20 (http://www.amazon.com/Slayers-D20-System-Role-Playing-Game/dp/189452585X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6585991-0543323?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188929952&sr=1-1)

And I only point it out because it is a very good rule/setting book. It adapts the d20 system to the anime antics and high-power-level adventures that are the theme of Slayers and does it well, as far as I can tell. It also has a magic system that I think I actually like better than standard D&D.

Soniku, thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun.... just remember to let the party win the loot sometimes. They do need enough money to pay the restaurant bills after all. (Or at least get a noble-born party member to foot the bill, as some have assumed the actual Slayers did with Amelia.)

I don't think Amelia carried a lot of money on her. Lina was loaded, so money was rarely an issue unless they were getting hunted by half the continent.

Soniku
2007-09-04, 02:28 PM
I don't think Amelia carried a lot of money on her. Lina was loaded, so money was rarely an issue unless they were getting hunted by half the continent.

No, no, no. You just use the nobles line of credit to charge it to your kingdom :smallbiggrin:

It's a level 4 class ability.

Hopeless
2007-09-04, 03:00 PM
Of course it's better. D&D magic doesn't have the Dragon Slave spell.

"Empowered Chain Sonic Fireball!"
Base 10d6 x1.5 to effectively 15d6 striking main foe with up to 15 separate targets all within 30' doing 7 1/2 d6 damage EACH of course those separate targets are often buildings, trees, etc, etc, well she does tend to cast it when she loses her temper...

But I believe her version of how to say this works better!

Soniku
2007-09-04, 03:02 PM
"Empowered Chain Sonic Fireball!"
Base 10d6 x1.5 to effectively 15d6 striking main foe with up to 15 separate targets all within 30' doing 7 1/2 d6 damage EACH of course those separate targets are often buildings, trees, etc, etc, well she does tend to cast it when she loses her temper...

But I believe her version of how to say this works better!

That sounds fun, but I'll take my 2d6 damage per level (no max) over a 100 foot radius anyday. All those metamagics would drive the spell DC up the wall!

DeathQuaker
2007-09-04, 08:39 PM
That or they'll have to find the all you can eat for a silver piece restaurant :p

Dude! That's a whole campaign arc right there! :smallbiggrin:


I don't think Amelia carried a lot of money on her. Lina was loaded, so money was rarely an issue unless they were getting hunted by half the continent.

Yeah, like Lina would EVER pay her own bill. :smalltongue:


That sounds fun, but I'll take my 2d6 damage per level (no max) over a 100 foot radius anyday. All those metamagics would drive the spell DC up the wall!

Yeah, doesn't she do something like 19d6 damage... and she has Spell Mastery for the spell too I think.

Oh, that's it. It's an old and crappy avatar, but I need to go use it again (think I may go make a new one in the meantime...).

Soniku
2007-09-05, 05:08 AM
Yeah, doesn't she do something like 19d6 damage... and she has Spell Mastery for the spell too I think.

Oh, that's it. It's an old and crappy avatar, but I need to go use it again (think I may go make a new one in the meantime...).

Awesome! Lina should totally be a guest character in one OotS strip... or not, I don't think they're a high enough level to be anywhere near her :p

As for the spell damage, it depends on what season she's in, but it's around 14d6 before any metamagic, so with empowering and maximizing... 126 damage anyone? :smallbiggrin:

Just Alex
2007-09-05, 09:56 AM
I've had a Slayers campaign sitting ready in my GM notebook for a while now, though it might end up being used for an epic campaign instead. Regardless, feel free to use this.
First, introduce the Yuan-Ti into the setting. Not so hard if you use the collapsing magic shell as an explanation for why this weird group of snake people show up. Next, toss some random priests spouting dire portents of death and doom and other negative words that start with 'd'. Alliteration is good.
Get the party to infiltrate a Yuan-Ti city. Insert wacky hijinks here as they attempt to figure things out. Have them discover that a particularly powerful person is attempting to set themselves up as a diety through some uber-ritual. If you feel like going a little dark, have that ritual involve a mass sacrifice. To put the time-crunch on, have the Yuan-Ti invade a city and capture a bunch of people.
Once all this is done, send the party running through the castle, through the forests, across mountains, and all that other good stuff trying to shut down the ritual. Finish up to big battle with BBEG and roll credits.
I call this masterpiece, Snakes on a Plane.

Soniku
2007-09-05, 02:24 PM
Hah, I wasn't sure where the punchline to that was gonna be but, it's been done, many many times =p

Anyway! I ran the next session of my campaign today. I won't go through the entire story because it was kinda short and boring due to massive timing and location of game accidents on the part of two of my players, but here's the highlights:

Our Stupid half-dragon, fainty witch and roguish rogue escape into the outskirts of the witches homeland and make their way to a tavern, in which they are quickly bought ales by an ominous blue-haired long-robed man.

Enter: The Loremaster

Turns out he just happens to have unearthed the location of an ancient temple/shrine/church of the water dragon king which contains a legendary wand of awesome. One contract later the party were on their way to said temple, briefly stalled by an attack from their favorite recurring villains (This time with the barbarian who whopped the half-dragons butt in the arena last session. Apparently he was working as a goon) and finally made it to the temple.

Generic dungeon crawl stuff happened, slayers style, they got to the cold room with the wand in, argued and finally got it, and were just on their way out when BAM, the main villain appears and states that he would indeed be glad if they would be kind enough to pass over the wand. Turns out he hated them already at the incident of the coin that he would now have to scour the black market to get for whatever evil scheme he has planned. The players were surprisingly mixed between "Ohnogiveittohim!" and "I snap the wand".

Fortunately the power of plot allowed them to get away just a little frostbitten and left the villain in a huge ice cube, leaving them to run into the closing credits, er, end of the session.


So, I know I will be getting one more player next time and I need a nemesis for him! The evil squad already contains a Wizard, a Priestess and a Barbarian. Any suggestions for something fittingly fun? The rogue turning on the party is a distinct possibility since the player can't come anymore... or she could die a dramatic death.

Dairun Cates
2007-09-05, 03:37 PM
I love Slayers d20. Then again. That was one of the few campaigns where I was a player and not the GM. It's also where the infamous stick was created; the single greatest tool for railroading your players without them realizing it (Where should we go next, stick?).

Yeah. It does need to be said that a spellcaster with a decent con is going to outdo the rest of the party most of the time. The ability to spontaneously cast any of your spells in exchange for hp is a potent combination in the right hands. It's enough to occasionally make the non-spellcasters jealous. The shaman actually ends up being pretty much the most powerful class in the game. They get a decent attack bonus progression, get a magic barrier, get spellcasting that few other classes have the opportunity to get, get almost a good 2/3rds of the field control spells (which includes "Shadow Snap", the most insanely overpowered spell ever in the right hands), and a fairly unique skill set.

Needless to say that before I hit Shaman, I was the buff monkey and back-up meatshield with just a small tinge of arcane power. After that, I became a huge field controller. I didn't actually have that many moments of truly shining as a "bad ass", but the ones I did have were freak good (took down 3 CR 10 guys while level 8 and fatigued from no sleep for 2 days) and I ALWAYS had a use in every battle. Although, part of that was because I was playing a character that was willing to put everything on the line for those he cared about and stooped to actually using his body as a shield when injuries kept him from being able to fight, cast magic, run, or carrying anyone.

The point is, be careful about playing shamans, a less graceful player with good experience will TRAMPLE the other players in his wake of awesomeness.

Extra words of advice:

-You also probably want to avoid letting anyone have the half-troll template. For the level adjustment, regeneration is EXTREMELY ridiculous.

-Depending on the experience of your players in this kind of a system, your players will probably eventually realize that cross-classing is incredibly potent in Slayers d20. One level of fighter for a character that likes touch attack spells is ridiculous. +2 fort + d10 hp + 2 defense bonus + 1 Base Attack + 1 Style Bonus = More damned useful than the 1 level of spell-casting you'd lose and therefore the 1d6ish damage. Whether you want them doing this or not is up to you, but be aware of it.

-For higher level spell-casting, you may want to take away the inherent bonuses to saves unless you want battles to be really short. Quite frankly, some of the saves can be BS high enough with the +5 for advanced spells. With the +5, even the rogue won't be making the reflex saves, which leads to very short and boring battles for non-spellcasters.

-Be careful what spells you let the casters take and how fast you let them fill their spell slots. Some spells are not meant for PCs (ie. Practically anything with level drain).

-4 people with Aqua create generally leads to full-scaled wars between people that aren't the PC's.

-Bear man + Vicious Great Sword + Improved Toughness + Two handed weapon style + power attack = 1 shotting wizard bosses on a crit.

-Encourage one of your players to take the code feat. It'll be funny when you make his or her life hell for it. Sure he'll have a +1 to just about everything almost constantly with a +4 to saves at times, but he or she will REALLY pay.

-Don't give 'em the stick!

-Be sparing with magic items. Slayers doesn't rely on them nearly as much as other d20 systems. Thus, why they're so much more expensive even after you count the cost adjustment.

-If your players use flight too much in battle, have them meet a spell-caster with Buday wind (15 mph winds per caster level Capped at 300 mph). That'll fix that idea.

-Most importantly, be flexible. Slayers is extremely fun, but your players will find loopholes that will drive you insane, whether by accident or intentionally. Be prepared to change your strategies to accommodate and go out of your way to occasionally let the non-casters shine.

-OH, AND MORE MOST IMPORTANTLY! If your player has a spell that can banish beings to another plane, do NOT give him a level 13 lesser Mazoku as a boss. It'll just make us all cry.

This isn't even close to all the advice I could give. Just what's off the top of my head. You'll learn most of it anyway.

Although, if you're looking for inspiration and more long term advice, I could recall our own slayers campaign for you, and you can see what pitfalls we hit, and what adventure paths we went down. I could probably sum it up in a few posts.

Soniku
2007-09-05, 03:55 PM
Shadow snap overpowered? I may well not be seeing the problem here, but as long as any member of the party has a lighting or flare spell shadow snap becomes little more than a useful escape/annoyance spell as the wizard will need to spend a moment to remove the shadow and that's it. It might work effectively against an all-fighter group or one where the mage is a good distance away from the one you are casting it on, but so far neither I nor the players have done anything much with it.

One thing I've worked out after looking through the rules is that while you do want to be sparing with the magic items, combat characters should get a magic sword/axe/whip by default. Every warrior in the anime had one (Gourrys Goran Nova, Zanguluses howling blade, even that random cannon-fodder bodyguard in the mage guild war episode had a +3 sword of speed and Zelgadis had his astral vine. If he was another spellcasting class I expect he would have had a magic sword of some sort also). I haven't extensively play tested this, but a good magical weapon, maybe even houseruleing a way to "parry" some spells with a magic weapon, could make the higher level balance problems you spoke about a bit better.


Edit: as for the troll template, I say bump the level penalty up a bit and don't forget that it works like recovery: if your max HP is 40 it will only recover 40hp per day maximum. This means that at low levels it will just make them a good damage soaker or caster, which the party might need at that level, and later on the speed of regeneration will only be 10 a round, maybe a little higher if you're running a Lina Inverse power level game. With the damage output spellcasters and rogues can have at that level, 10 a round will only be a minor help

Dairun Cates
2007-09-05, 05:32 PM
Yeah. You'd think that having a lighting spell handy makes the spell not that useful, but when it comes down to it, the party will face its fair share of non-spellcasters and blaster mages that aren't interested in weak spells like lighting because they waste spell slots. Mind you, as the GM, you can solve that second one by not including psycho blaster mages. Still, when the level 12 Bandit comes bearing down on you like a crazy blood-thirsty lunatic, he tends not to carry a lighting dagger handy on him. It's also a shaman spell, so it's actually realistically not likely that a lot of people actually know the exact counter for it. Once again though, that's up to the GM. Basically, it's a spell that's a lot more powerful in practice than it is on paper. A touch attack to flat foot someone at will with the weakest spell in the game as a counterspell is still really potent against some creatures, and even when they do cast the lighting spell, they had to waste a turn while the rest of your team wails on them with high level skills and hopefully gets a bit of that flat-footed bonus out of it.

As for the magic items, I completely agree that fighting classes deserve equipment knick knacks. Although, a +3 sword of dashing is definitely something to be saved for a special occasion or an end of a major quest reward. You really have to keep in mind that the actual slayers crew is 2/3 epic leveled. I was mostly commenting on the fact that you should give out significantly less than in D&D. D&D loves everyone to be covered in magical knick knacks by level 6 or so. However, one magic item can be a significant jump in power and some characters don't need it. Said Vicious Greatsword was the magic item we pooled together to get for our fighter, and he practically 1-shotted one of the final boss's forms with it. Ever seen a high-level wizard take 98 damage in one shot? SPLUT! Point is, I'd say that most characters by higher levels really only need one magic item in the slayer's system at most, and these should be reserved for classes that might fall behind like Rogues or Loremasters and not Sorcerors.

Also, what level are they, and did either the Loremaster or Witch take Advanced Spellcasting (Shamanist)? Despite the low DC to cast, it's actually an advanced Shamanist spell. I was under the impression that since you still had a witch but that you had a half-dragon that you were really only in maybe the 5-6 range (half-dragon was 4 level adjustment, right?).

Also, the system oddly balances well at higher levels. Provided you don't cross-class into like 4 incompatible classes, the spellcasting system really is enough of a disadvantage to nerf casters a bit. When you get in a serious battle with your spellcasters it actually becomes an HP managing game. You'll often find the casters doing more damage to themselves than their opponent. A high HP fighter can usually take a barrage of spells and then turn around and whack the mage on the head once to knock them out. Despite arguably being the most powerful character in the group, my shaman was the first one to fall unconscious 90% of the time. Being a frontline fighter and a caster drains HP EXTREMELY fast. I actually found myself knocking myself unconscious in most major battles from spell-casting, and I had a 16 con. The reason I say to be careful about Shamans is mostly that if you don't limit them by having a few battles away from their effective elements, their spells are insane with the right application. However, this can be fixed by the fact that if they're in a building where an element is completely absent, spells of that element don't work. You'll never be able to nerf wind and shadow in this way, but earth, fire, and water can be knocked out pretty handily in the right areas.

But yeah, the fighter class is actually fine. They can go toe to toe with spellcasters easily. The loremaster and rogue classes are the ones that can have trouble if you're not careful. They're mostly roleplaying classes in this system so it can occassionally be hard not to have them get completely over-shadowed in combat. Every class does have its defects though. Why do you think almost the entire cast is cross-classed like crazy at the back of the book? You need a couple of levels in other classes to cover your class's weakspots. Rogues would do well to take a couple levels of noble or fighter depending on whether they're social rogues or sneak attack rogue. There's also the rogue that takes one level of witch for utility spells like water create and dark mist. Shaman-based wizards DEFINITELY want 1 level of Fighter for the BA bonus, the specialty, and all that good stuff I mentioned before. This is especially considering the number of touch attack spells they have (considering defense bonus adds to Touch AC). Fighters do well with a level in Rogue or Bounty Hunter. Every class can benefit from the other more at some point than taking that extra level in their own class. Like I said, non-sorceror spell-casters do well with a level of Fighter at level 5 or so. You can still hit your advanced spell-casting class at 6 and you gain more control at the cost of usually a d6 of damage.

Sorry. That was a bit of rambling. Like I said, it was one of my favorite campaigns. Going from level 1 to 9 was really fun in Slayers.

Soniku
2007-09-05, 06:53 PM
At the moment the party is only level 3-ish. I started them at level 1 but let them take funny races if they wanted to, using the exp penalty rule that the half-dragon will be level one for 6000 exp then level up along with the rest, only that much slower. It worked quite well, really, since the breath weapon is quite underwhelming at lower levels and the only major bonuses he was getting out of it was the stats which may well have been the only thing that let the party survive a series of horrendous spell drain rolls (the witch had a habit of rolling a six on every drain check, which was not at all fun for the party when she was out cold one flare arrow into the battle).

On the subject of shadow snap, I make sure pretty much every NPC caster has some form of lighting spell, chances are it's one of the first spells any caster learns. Also, one thing the book doesn't note, I have never seen shadow snap cast without a weapon being used to pin the target in place, the number of daggers the mage is carrying effectively limiting the castings he has of it per battle.

For classes, yes, my players have already started multiclassing. Well, the witch has, she took her third level as noble (working it into her soon to be finished backstory, she's a princess of Ralteague who was inspired to take up sorcery after an encounter with a certain redhead a year or two ago) because she already realised that it would take another four levels in witch to get the next level with good abilities and has already got more than enough spell slots for what she wants until she uses nobles extra skill points to bring her up to Sorcerer. The loremaster is, I believe, heading for either cleric or shaman and the bounty hunter will decide when he actually reaches level two :smallwink:

Dairun Cates
2007-09-05, 07:37 PM
It's not exactly hard to carry a few daggers for Shadow Snap. If you plan on using it, odds are you spent the extra money on some throwing knives, and if you're playing a shaman, you probably have the strength score to carry them. I believe it does say you need an item to pull it off. My point is that I was under the same opinion when I took it as a Shaman. It was a free way to get the party rogue to get a free sneak attack in or to resolve battle non-violently. However, it's shockingly useful.

It actually saved my character's life a few times. Once we got ambushed and I use one of the daggers to pin the fighter while his mage buddy cast light on him. This did 2 things. It kept me from getting fireballed in the face, and gave me the turn and a half I needed to run, hide, and come up with a better plan to defeat my enemies.

I probably over exaggerated when I said it was the most overpowered spell ever, but it's not something to count off as "easily countered" and "Mostly for tricks". It's a legitamite field controlling spell. Oh, and there is always the silliness of a forked shadow snap. You throw 4 daggers at once and snap 4 guys. Really hard to pull off, and I wasn't mean enough to take it, but it is funny when it happens.

The point is, if someone does take it, you'll find it does have it's uses. Change Earth can be negated by a reflex save or by flying, but not too many people want to waste the turn casting levitate and making concentration checks to cast in air. The point is that the spell breaks the other side's momentum. That's what the shamanist spells were made for.

Hell, I actually managed to defeat someone with water create. Damn near killed me, but I did it.

I'm not telling you to ban Shamans for balance or completely center every encounter around defeating them, I'm just warning you that a well made Shaman is incredibly potent and unpredictable.

Oh, and I'm very curious. Did anyone take skill points in vision? It's an interesting skill that often hurts the player more than helps but makes for some wonderful roleplaying. It also happens to be the source for the biggest running gag in our gaming group.

Soniku
2007-09-05, 07:50 PM
Well, I'm not going to judge any classes before I see them in action, but I'll keep that in mind.

Quickly sifting through my players sheets the witch put one rank in vision and the loremaster put five in. And I remember it has been used before in one session but I've completely forgotten why XD

Dairun Cates
2007-09-05, 08:08 PM
Well, I'm not going to judge any classes before I see them in action, but I'll keep that in mind.

Quickly sifting through my players sheets the witch put one rank in vision and the loremaster put five in. And I remember it has been used before in one session but I've completely forgotten why XD

Yeah. In our campaign, me and a friend were playing twins from semi-royalty in Atlas City. Influential people if you will. My character hated military school, and the other hated prep school. Well, since we were twin, we used point buy and bought identical stats in different categories. Basically, we had the same numbers, but my character was scathing with an 8 charisma, and the female caster was beautiful and charming with a 14 charisma and the beautiful feat. Lots of fun role-playing backstory. Well, we tried to cover the witch skill set. Well, we had a running gag that despite the fact that the Vandrel twins were famous as spellcasters, only Regina (the female twin) was actually popular. She had a maxed out reputation while I effectively had a 0 reputation (Although, that was remedied later when the villains knew my character by various other derogatory titles). Well, as fun as it is living in a character's shadow like Luigi to Mario, my character needed one more skill. So, I ended up going with Vision, one of the two flavor text skills I would take (the other one, profession [chef], has its own set of stories).

So, here I am eventually sitting with a maxed skill in vision for level 2 with a decently high wisdom character. So, he can pull off some decently high DCs with it. If you check the vision check numbers, it's not exactly hard to pull off the basics like "which way to town". So, I was taking it mostly as a navigation thing. However, the third vision check I ever made was a nat 20, which put me at a skill roll where instead of the small augury I wanted, I had a short term prophecy of where the person I needed to find was and what was going to happen to her. Needless to say, it was bad. In the process of trying to prevent it, the character made it come true. So, he spent a long time having to decide whether he really could change his own destiny or not. However, this ended up not mattering because he had a code that made him have to act before he could think about these things. He got REALLY good at the vision checks as the campaign went on though. Good enough that when the villain had him trapped in the astral plain, he could make a vision check to the outside world while being tortured to see where his group was and whether they were in danger. It became a part of his character and became the source for the only artifact that's persistently shown up in all of our campaigns since then regardless of setting, The Stick.

The big irony of this is that the vision checks ended up being a huge motivation for continuing the plot. The visions said this was the way to achieve my goals and find what I needed to find. So, good or bad, the party ended up usually going, although often heavily armed and ready to fight. Because of this, the GM was able to plan better plots because there was less of a need for detailed back-up plans. We only COMPLETELY derailed the plot once, and that led to perhaps the best session in any ever (We ended up getting into jail, out of jail, started a prison riot, exposed a fake cult, got revenge on EVERYONE who ever wrong my character, caused a big enough ruckus that Prince Phil had to come to break it up, convinced people that I was a servant of Shabranigdo, cleared the guy who went to jail's name, convinced a large group of people that we were heroes out to save the world from the apocalypse (the truth), and managed to save our favorite bar. All in Seyruun in one session.

My point is, if anyone's vision checks get good enough, I'd be curious to see if you have similar results.

HeroicSociopath
2008-05-23, 08:11 PM
I saw this on a google search, as my friends love slayers and left it up to me to findout everything I could about a slayers rpg book. (If there was one at all)


From the sounds of it, it's like D&D only spellcasters don't pretend to be monopolizing and just come rightout and say it. Considering we're all big on game balance that's not really a good thing.


But then that's just going by what I read. Is perhaps magic somehow balanced with more randomness? I heard you can cast spontanously at the cost of HP, yes that sounds balanced in and of itself, but not when in comparison to a warrior who i'm guessing can't cast spells at all..


I figured it'd just be easier and probably more balanced to just use BESM d20 and make it more customizable. Or alternatively use the fantasy classes section and make spells more random. (Like say caster level is rolled, not set by your level.. Infact, that sounds excellent teehee..)

Scaboroth
2008-05-23, 08:21 PM
I know this is kinda off-topic, so forgive my slight derailment. Is the TV show Slayers any better than the movie? Because I watched the movie, and it was so stupid I took the DVD (a friend burned me a copy) out of my player and snapped it right in half after watching it. Ugh... all the sophmoric jokes about breast size just struck me as a little too... twelve-year-old boy-ish.

So is the show really that much better, or am I just not getting it?

Edit: I don't mean to offend, really. I meant it as an honest question.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-05-24, 12:40 AM
Well, it's really a 12-year-olds' show when you get down to it. It's still funny. And I have never seen any of the movies, but I understand that the humor is much more varied in the series then the movies' "lol Naga has hueg boobs and Lina does not" punchlines. Also actual plot. Sometimes.

Also, /cast Dragon Slave at Thread Necromancer.

Xuincherguixe
2008-05-24, 12:27 PM
Since this thread got raised from the dead...


Slayers has a weak plot, but strong characters. Some of the best episodes were the ones that didn't advance the plot at all.


It's stupid, but stupid in a good way.

Soniku
2008-05-24, 07:58 PM
Wow, good to see my thread alive after so long... well, even if it is undead and zombified :smallbiggrin:

Anyway... to answer a few things:


I know this is kinda off-topic, so forgive my slight derailment. Is the TV show Slayers any better than the movie? Because I watched the movie, and it was so stupid I took the DVD (a friend burned me a copy) out of my player and snapped it right in half after watching it. Ugh... all the sophmoric jokes about breast size just struck me as a little too... twelve-year-old boy-ish.

So is the show really that much better, or am I just not getting it?


The movie was rather... shallow, for lack of a better word. Silly? I dunno, you know what I mean. As for the series, I find it hilarious. Yes, it still has the odd breast gag or suchlike, but the humor ranges from blatent and childish to subtle and sometimes sinister.




Well, it's really a 12-year-olds' show when you get down to it. It's still funny. And I have never seen any of the movies, but I understand that the humor is much more varied in the series then the movies' "lol Naga has hueg boobs and Lina does not" punchlines. Also actual plot. Sometimes.


Well, sometimes it's a 12 year old's show, sometimes not so much. The bulk of the episodes are focused around comedy with a bit of action and story, but the climactic few episodes of each season (and quite a bit of season 3) became something that would most likely merit at least a 15 rating in many places. Minor spoilers here, but nothing too big so I won't bother with the colour change (I forget how anyway): Someone getting railed through the gut with a magical equivilent of a sniper bullet (with plenty of blood), a powerful level 20+ BBEG laying a rather nasty beatdown on a girl in her young teens and so on, while it may just be a cartoon/anime, it's far from comic violence and much of the later fights are almost cringe-worthy to those not desensitized by fighting games and suchlike.




Slayers has a weak plot, but strong characters. Some of the best episodes were the ones that didn't advance the plot at all.

Slayers can do plot when it comes down to it, but at heart it's a D&D parody with some fights when it comes down to it... and quite a good representation of a lot of peoples gaming groups :smalltongue:





From the sounds of it, it's like D&D only spellcasters don't pretend to be monopolizing and just come rightout and say it. Considering we're all big on game balance that's not really a good thing.


But then that's just going by what I read. Is perhaps magic somehow balanced with more randomness? I heard you can cast spontanously at the cost of HP, yes that sounds balanced in and of itself, but not when in comparison to a warrior who i'm guessing can't cast spells at all..


Not really. To give a basic rundown of the system it goes something like this: Each spell has a DC to cast. Light might be 20 while fireball is 30 and so on, big spells being somewhere around 60 or more. You roll and add your fortitude modifier to cast (spellcasting classes gain a class ability that lets them add their class level to spellcasting rolls. Yes, anyone can cast if they have a positive int modifier, but you need levels in casting classes to gain more "slots" than your int modifier). You can also name the spell to gain a +5 bonus to cast at the cost of broadcasting to everyone in earshot what it is your casting (not such a big deal for fireball, very big deal for sneakier spells) and incant the spell for a further +5 at the expense of casting at the end of the turn.

All a bit complicated but simple once you've done the math for the first time. Now, depending on the DC there will be some nonlethal drain (can elect to take lethal for a further +5) and the exact amount depends on the spell DC and how well you succeeded or failed in casting. Basic spells are about 1d6 basic and it goes up from there.


There is obviously a lot more complexity to it (Metamagic, fake incantations to fool counterspells and so on) it's a pretty fair explination. It might seem a little overpowering at first, but then consider:

Casters have small hit dice and low fort saves, this will not only tone it down but also encourage cross-classing for casters (which accurately represents a lot of characters in the slayers setting). Also, healing is limited. The basic heal spell is slow to heal (only a few points a round, touch range, must keep concentration) and can only heal up to half your total HP a day, meaning a wizard with 20 hp could cast an absolute maximum of 30hp worth of spells a day, which would be approximately 6 successfully casted fireballs. Then factor in the greater drain of failed spells and the magic resistance of many races in the slayers universe and it turns out (in my opinion) MORE balenced than D&D!

*phew* sorry for that essay.


And on a final non-gaming note, a new series of slayers is coming out next month in Japan. Horray!

HeroicSociopath
2008-05-24, 11:18 PM
lol, naww it was good, makes me more willing to look for a dead rpg system. XP

I'd assume the monsters are buffed too? lol, cause like that half-troll werewolf guy was healing like 1d8+1 points every couple of rounds. XP

And I assume normal trolls heal something like 2d10 every couple of rounds. It was implied in Slayers trolls are near impossible to kill. As was "pure monsters". (Which I'd intterput as a demon of some sortof with massive damage reduction)

Jerthanis
2008-05-25, 02:15 AM
Not really. To give a basic rundown of the system it goes something like this:

Wow... that actually sounds like a pretty awesome system. I'd have to see it and try it out to be sure, but it sounds kind of neat to play at least. Not perfect, but then, who is?



And on a final non-gaming note, a new series of slayers is coming out next month in Japan. Horray!

Yeah, I've heard of that and I can't wait. Slayers was my 3rd or 4th Anime, and as much as I've seen much more sophisticated Anime since, all of my favorite Anime to this day are the first ones I saw. Even rewatching it now, all I can feel is pure, unadulterated joy. My only hope is that when it comes out here, it's dubbed by Lisa Ortiz, Crispin Freeman and the rest of the gang.

Soniku
2008-05-25, 07:28 AM
And I assume normal trolls heal something like 2d10 every couple of rounds. It was implied in Slayers trolls are near impossible to kill. As was "pure monsters". (Which I'd intterput as a demon of some sortof with massive damage reduction)

It's their HD+con mod per round... so for a standard troll that's 14

On the subject of monsters, that's where most people get really confused.

There are monsters. These are like orcs and trolls and what have you, and they are basically just simple creature races with some form of society.

Then there is the monster race. These are the Slayers 'demons' who teleport about and feed off of negative emotions.

And finally there are demons, which are basically a cross between the two above, although I doubt they are related.

The reason for this confusion is that 'monster race' is a direct translation of 'mazoku', which is what they are called in Japanese and the actual monsters like trolls are called something completely different. Similarities between the mazoku and D&D demons make it even more confusing as they really don't have much in common with the demon race in slayers.

Bosaxon
2008-05-25, 06:16 PM
So, let's say I have no familiarity to the setting other than what wikipedia tells me, but I like high powered games coupled with a lighthearted and casual tone. Will I enjoy the suppliment? It really sounds appealling....

Soniku
2008-05-25, 06:29 PM
I would say.... Yes

Very yes :smallbiggrin:

Xuincherguixe
2008-05-25, 06:38 PM
So, let's say I have no familiarity to the setting other than what wikipedia tells me, but I like high powered games coupled with a lighthearted and casual tone. Will I enjoy the suppliment? It really sounds appealling....

I haven't played Slayers D20, but it sounds interesting.

The setting itself would be a great place to have games in.

Khanderas
2008-05-26, 06:20 AM
And on a final non-gaming note, a new series of slayers is coming out next month in Japan. Horray!
Yeah, I've heard of that and I can't wait. Slayers was my 3rd or 4th Anime, and as much as I've seen much more sophisticated Anime since, all of my favorite Anime to this day are the first ones I saw. Even rewatching it now, all I can feel is pure, unadulterated joy. My only hope is that when it comes out here, it's dubbed by Lisa Ortiz, Crispin Freeman and the rest of the gang.
Same here. Started with Ranma½ (intrestingly enough because it was made into a fighting game to the NES that I never tried or saw), after some mecha stuff that was unintresting to me and then finally Slayers.

And while the jokes are 12 year old level (lol boobs and lol fireball-to-your-face and lol crazy-naga-laugh) it works (sometimes).

DeathQuaker
2008-05-26, 12:10 PM
The jokes can get childish, but the TV series in particular get into some fairly serious issues (genocide, etc.). Of course, it also gets extremely silly. A 12 year old could watch it, but I'd say it's entertaining for older folks as well. (Is almost 32 and loves Slayers; refuses to be ashamed.)

Karuma
2008-05-27, 07:23 PM
Seeing this thread being rezzed quite recently I don't feel as bad about posting in it as when I started reading it (I found it from Google).

I was searching to find an answer to a very important question.

Situation: People that don't have spellcasting classes can learn magic, page 61 says so.

Problem: If I don't have a casting class, whats my caster level for the damage of say a fireball spell?

And while unlikely it's even possible for someone like this to manage to learn Dragon Slave. I did it. it was hard. But I did. Now I need to figure out how hard it hits.

Great-Nightwolf
2009-01-21, 11:45 AM
/cast 'Higher Thread Necromancy'

/establishing Defense Barrier to ward of against Attacks

I normally rule, that a non-spellcaster has Caster-Level 1, which would be replaced the moment he gains a Class with Caster-Level.

Yes it's childish, but it's damn fun. I am 22 and am not ashamed.

I am pretty sure the 'player' of Lina was a Powergamer, with all the Multiclassing *grin*