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2012-09-09, 03:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Sortof. A few caveats should be mentioned:
1. The whole "the planes are planets and you can fly between them with spaceships" thing is added in as a part of the default Nentir Vale setting. It is *not* a separate campaign setting book.
2. All the stuff about Space Elves, the hippo people, and the giant space hamster have been stripped out.
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2012-09-09, 04:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Switzerland
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Yeah, sorry. THat's like saying the Manual of the Planes for third was a Planescape book. There were some elements in there, but none of the unique spirit.
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2012-09-10, 09:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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- Arizona
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2012-09-10, 09:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2009
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- Runite
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
You can't, for almost all spells you need line of sigh and line of effect. The skull, face muscles, skin, and possibly head wear block it so no, you cannot use a level 1 spell (or cheap item) to play with someone/thing brain.
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2012-09-10, 09:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2011
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2012-09-10, 10:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2005
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- SW England
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
If there are real physical and/or magical differences between the "races" (which are really more like different species) then it seems reasonable that different ones would have different vulnerabilities, or that spells could be tailored to affect one but not the other. The only racism would be how they were used.
I could easily imagine a human army keeping a stock of dedicated anti-X weapons to use against various threats - including anti-human weapons as most of their enemies are other human kingdoms.
What was far more dubious (in my opinion) was the old rule that only Evil rangers could chose their own race as their favoured enemy.
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2012-09-10, 10:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
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2012-09-10, 10:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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- England
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Ba-dum-TISH!
I know it doesn't work like that, but I always like to try. Sometimes - just sometimes - the Rule of Funny wins out.
Okay, so, something stupid that isn't a monster.... Free Actions always make me wonder. Sometimes they're arbitrarily more complicated than swinging a sword, which none-the-less takes a full round, and the game can go straight to hell if it gets abused.
Sometimes, some games get everything they deserve when someone works out the Peasant Railgun.~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
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2012-09-11, 04:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2011
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- Australia
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
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2012-09-11, 05:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
The peasant railgun is the epitome of Munchkinism.
It selectively picks some abstract rules, but then introduces "common sense" or pseudo-real world physics to produce some brocken effect (and ingnoring undisired side effects, of course) and then trying to pass of the thing as entirely supported by the rules.
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2012-09-11, 06:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2009
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- Runite
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2012-09-11, 08:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
- Location
- The US of A
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
One of the DMs I gamed with houseruled in a version that limited us to 6 free actions a turn (1 second each) and that talking was only a free action if you said less than three words. This was essentially his way of trying to curtail the hour-long debates/planning sessions we had every time we spotted some new monster or entered combat.
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2012-09-11, 12:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
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- Dallas, TX
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
My response is that talking is a free action, but deciding what to say is not. I'll pause the action to let you shout out orders or threats or monologues, but you cannot converse during a single round (except in the dead time while somebody else is attacking).
Also, there was a great rule in Conquistador in the seventies, which forbade movement "in contravention of common sense". If somebody attempted the peasant railgun in my game, I would say, "Get serious", and move on.
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2012-09-11, 12:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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- Boston, MA
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
How about the legacy of arcane spell failure for armor use? When 4e came out, I thought that ridiculosity had ended, but no, it rears its stupid head in the 5e playtest too ... From a balance perspective, I can sorta kinda vaguely understand it (but can't understand why they would then allow workarounds), but there is no in-game reason for it that can't get logicked away in two seconds.
Ooh, and adventuring being better practice for wizardry than day-in, day-out study of the arcane in a well-equipped laboratory!
And all 2e rangers being specialized in two-weapon fighting! Because there's nothing better for protecting a forest than a sword-and-dagger combo.
Finally: the Deck of Many Things. /thread
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2012-09-11, 03:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2010
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- The Land of the Cats
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
In 3e & 3.5, Arcane Spell Failure only applies to spells with a Somatic (body movement) component, just like Silence only gives a spell failure chance to spells with a Verbal component.
As for adventuring Wizards... well... actually seeing the real-world effects of magic, encountering magical creatures, encountering different ways of using magic, being forced to "think on your feet", etc...
Of course, back in 2e, Wizards got 50xp/spell level for every spell they cast and Clerics got 100xp/spell level for every spell they cast... so players had to decide if they wanted to blow all their spells before camping, or keep some in case there was an encounter at night!
Thieves also got 1xp for each gold-piece equivalent value they stole. so, if the thief could sneak in while the party was fighting the dragon, they could get rediculous amounts of xp (and say "huh, this dragon wasn't very wealthy...")
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2012-09-13, 09:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2010
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- London, EU
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
I suspect that this is from a module. You can always re-fluff it as a grand piano or something.
I want to place several of this in a game where the local magic mart is run by an Elf. When they try to part exchange them the reaction would be something like:
"Eek, get those things out of my shop before I disintegrate them."
Original source: 1E UA Illusionist only. (well it might have been in Dragon first). The thing is though, by the time you can do the save or die thing, you could have spent your action in casting a 6th level spell.
Sounds like England in the Cromwell/Puritan period; and the Pilgrim fathers wondered why they were unpopular.
I ran this and it worked well. Clerics were still the most powerful class.
No one uses the useless kits anyway.
I run a similar house rule in 3.5. Clerics get to cast their domain spells spontaneously instead of cure X. If they want spontaneous healing then they need to take an appropriate domain.π = 4
Consider a 5' radius blast: this affects 4 squares which have a circumference of 40' — Actually it's worse than that.
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2012-09-13, 09:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2009
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- Runite
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2012-09-14, 04:57 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2010
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- London, EU
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
π = 4
Consider a 5' radius blast: this affects 4 squares which have a circumference of 40' — Actually it's worse than that.
Completely Dysfunctional Handbook
Warped Druid Handbook
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2012-09-14, 09:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
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- The US of A
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
When I did a fix for the cleric, I tried to give more domain-flavor by lowering the regular spell slots and increasing the number of doman spell slots. I think I actually like your idea more though.
I know that the original line of thinking was that "clerics are the only ones that can heal" (although that not entirely accurate even within core) but even if that where the case I think this is a good change.
To keep this thread on topic:
The Wish Spell
It's basically saying "here's 100+ pages of spells, but in case we've forgotten anything you can make up your own". Maybe workable in theory, but the potential for generating arguments and encouraging abuse is pretty much infinite.Last edited by Deepbluediver; 2012-09-14 at 09:07 AM.
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2012-09-14, 12:55 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2010
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Imagine if all real-world conversations were like internet D&D conversations...
Protip: DnD is an incredibly social game played by some of the most socially inept people on the planet - Lev
I read this somewhere and I stick to it: "I would rather play a bad system with my friends than a great system with nobody". - Trevlac
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2012-09-14, 01:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2009
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- Maryland
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2012-09-14, 01:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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- Orlando, FL
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Don't forget that the elves had Guyver units.
Spelljammer's cover is all like "hey guess what all of Kepler's first ideas were correct and phlogiston theory is real hell yes get ready for 15th Century voyages on the high seas only in space and prep your buckles for swashing only there are DWAAAVES." And then you open it up and read it. What you get is an elf in a Guyver suit trying to buy a pair of bongos off a penguin riding a flying pig down at the beholder bar. Which is okay, I guess. Had the cover said "get ready for wacky Baron Munchausen in space adventures," it'd be easier to swallow.
Also hate tinker gnomes for whom every gadget fails. HAHA isn't it teh funneh? No, thank you. I already have trouble taking this as srs bisniss, the Geartaculars Guild of Munchkin Land is actively fighting any attempt to get roleplaying done that doesn't turn D&D into Your Highness. Which is fine, if that's what you're going for. They would be great in a game like The Slayers (at least for the first half of any given season until things go strangely dark). But if you're trying to run Robert E. Howard/Dream Cycle style fantasy...
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2012-09-14, 01:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2009
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- Maryland
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2012-09-14, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2011
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Projects: Homebrew, Gentlemen's Agreement, DMPCs, Forbidden Knowledge safety, and Top Ten Worst. Also, Quotes and RACSD are good.
Anyone knows blue is for sarcas'ing in · "Take 10 SAN damage from Dark Orchid" · Use of gray may indicate nitpicking · Green is sincerity
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2012-09-15, 02:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
There's a reason special forces in particular and combat personell in general use such short-hand IRL.
Rapid communication is essential on the battlefield, and things like using the numbers of a clockface as stand-ins for directional warnings is a logical extension of that principal.
"4 o'clock, high" gets said, heard, and processed faster than, "Look out behind you, to your left, and above you." It also avoids confusion since in the first instance you clearly mean one target in a specific direction rather than the possible three targets in three general directions, that the second could mean.I am not seaweed. That's a B.
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2012-09-15, 02:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- Indianapolis
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2012-09-15, 03:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
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2012-09-15, 05:48 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
As far as I can tell, it's just a stupid stereotype enforcement thing. Classic fantasy wizards like merlin and gandalf didn't go into battle in full plate, so your wizard can't either.
(By the way, where in the 5E playtest does it mention ASF? I don't remember seeing it anywhere.)
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2012-09-15, 01:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
Sometimes I want talking-limits as a player, so I don't have to spend 10 minutes listening to some loser BBEG whine about on cryptic bulls*** while I'm forced to politely wait my turn to stab him again. Seriously, how do you form coherent sentences (or even thoughts) while three guys are stabbing you? Also, my character is not waiting for this loser to finish his damn sentence, he's in a screaming blood frenzy, and he's spending every moment hacking his target into a bloody pulp.
The next villain that spends 5 minutes with a pointless mid-combat monologue, I am tempted to have my character stop listening and reply with "I wasn't listening, too busy eviscerating you. Can you repeat that? Actually never mind, it probably wasn't important anyway. Have another stab wound, you big loser". If the monologue was especially eloquent, "No U", or "Whine Moar".Last edited by Slipperychicken; 2012-09-15 at 01:59 PM.
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2012-09-15, 02:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2010
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- London, EU
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Re: Hillariously Stupid Non-Monster Things from D&D
π = 4
Consider a 5' radius blast: this affects 4 squares which have a circumference of 40' — Actually it's worse than that.
Completely Dysfunctional Handbook
Warped Druid Handbook
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