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2019-03-30, 09:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Huh... based on the changes, I take it Fighter content from Paizo mostly has to be re-written to function.
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2019-03-31, 04:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
If someone really wanted to play a regular Fighter, I wouldn't say no. There's just not really much point from what I've seen. Everyone usually tells me that the weaponmaster's handbook saves the Fighter, but I still honestly haven't seen anything out of that which I really felt made the Fighter actually really stand out amidst his peers.
You are my God.
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2019-03-31, 03:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Well, some of the Advanced Weapon Training are borderline broken on any other class, but brings the Fighter to a really nice place. Also, its mostly the fact that you can mix "interesting," but kind of weak options together that suddenly become very strong. Like the Iron Caster build that can use random magical items to cast spells. It only gets stronger with the Warrior Spirit AWT because now you can add any weapon special ability on demand, and the Iron Caster usually only needs a magic item with the same school of magic.
The Armor/Weapon Master Handbooks basically elevates the fighter to the levels of the other martial. Maybe not in a raw damage way, but making them a lot more versatile. For example, picking up Armed Bravery, Warriors Spirit and Focused Weapon gives the Fighter the same weapon damage scaling as the Warpriest, let's him add his Bravery bonus to his Will save (giving the Fighter a solid will save bonus) and let's him customize his magic weapon to the enemy he fights. One downside is that archetypes that trade away Bravery are now "weaker" because they Fighter has two options adding his Bravery bonus to will saves, one using a feat, and one using AWT.
Basically, the fighter gets stronger because it liberally steals class features from other classes.
Also, some of the archetypes are still strong by themselves, like the Mutation Warrior who gets the Alchemist's Mutagen, and some of them are still interesting, like the Eldritch Guardian that gets a familiar that has all of the Fighter's combat feats. With Familiar archetypes being a thing, especially the Mauler, you can actually turn your Familiar into a really good warrior if you do it right.
As an example, I just used a prototype of a Hinyasi Brawler/Eldritch Guardian Fighter against my players last night in a gladiator match. The Fighter and Monkey familiar use improvised weapons via the Shikigami Style feats, and the Monkey has all of the Fighter combat feats. When the lemur monkey hits you in the face with a soup ladle for something like 17 points of damage... Oh man, the look on my players face was hilarious.Last edited by Tels; 2019-03-31 at 03:10 PM.
Founding member of the Cult of Ashiel
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2019-03-31, 09:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Yeah, it was definitely a big boost for them to be sure. I'm still kinda skeptical of how much of a boost (Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians still have better saves and/or immunities for example) but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
Also, some of the archetypes are still strong by themselves, like the Mutation Warrior who gets the Alchemist's Mutagen, and some of them are still interesting, like the Eldritch Guardian that gets a familiar that has all of the Fighter's combat feats. With Familiar archetypes being a thing, especially the Mauler, you can actually turn your Familiar into a really good warrior if you do it right.
As an example, I just used a prototype of a Hinyasi Brawler/Eldritch Guardian Fighter against my players last night in a gladiator match. The Fighter and Monkey familiar use improvised weapons via the Shikigami Style feats, and the Monkey has all of the Fighter combat feats. When the lemur monkey hits you in the face with a soup ladle for something like 17 points of damage... Oh man, the look on my players face was hilarious.
Also since the Viking + VMC Barbarian could grab Superstition, that largely negated the saving throw woes the Fighter has vs magical effects, since not only did they have Superstition, but it was actually stronger than a regular Barbarian's (because their effective barbarian level was equal to their level-3 + 1/2 their level, so at 8th level their effective barbarian level was actually 9th and it just kept climbing from there). Also it replaced Bravery with move->swift->free action intimidates which is always useful (-2 to attacks, saves, and checks for no expenditure of resources is extremely nice).
EDIT: Also, I really appreciate that the viking's shield replacement for armor training actually increases the AC bonus granted by the shield, unlike the Armor Training which requires your Dexterity to be higher to offer any benefit. It means you actually get a really impressive AC, since you get +4 AC which works fine in mithral celestial plate mail. Having a heavy shield with +11 to AC or a light shield with +10 is very nice.Last edited by Ashiel; 2019-03-31 at 10:01 PM.
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2019-04-04, 06:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
I may be the only person that actually likes Armor Training. IMHO, it's a clever way to give a boost to AC without it being yet another generic numerical bonus.
Thanks to AT, Fighters are probably the only class that can use heavy armor effectively (losing that 10 ft and suffering -8 to everything sucks). It's not until Celestial Armor variants become readily available that AT loses steam... And honestly, not even half the games I played had that kind of armor was easy (or even possible) to obtain.
Without AT, most of the time, characters are better off with a mithril breastplate. If AT was the only "problem" with Fighters, I'd be completely fine with the class.
The WMH is a great book, but IMO it feels too much like a band-aid and suffers from having rather boring options (e.g.: a multitude of "you add your WT bonus to X, Y and Z"), which is effective, but boring. Personaly, I only alllw WMH and AMH material on a case-by-case basis and instead tell players to use my homebrew Fighter (which I'm honestly proud of).Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-05, 02:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Possibly, though most of my martials begin with around 14 Dex and won't be raising that a whole lot until magic items and inherent modifiers become more of a thing. Full plate by my estimate always ends up with more AC than a breastplate, because breastplates are capped at +9 (+6 armor, +3 max dex) and require you to have the Dex to spare (on standard 15 PB, that could be pretty steep for a while), while Full Plate is +10 (+9 armor, +1 max dex), and the difference stays when you upgrade to mithral (since both's max dex change by the same amount but the plate demands less of a Dex investment). The latter also has a larger impact on your flat-footed AC which is very important for surviving things like big cat charges from Stealth (the plate wearer is usually the only PC who won't get hosed from a lion or tiger ambush).
Also, full plate is only a -6 armor check penalty. Masterwork brings that down to only -5, which is quite bearable. Both reduce your speed by the same amount (until you can get mithral upgrades). I personally would have liked to have seen something like increasing your touch AC from armor training (regardless of your Dex), or granting scaling fortification to resist crits, or apply to your CMB and CMD for and against things like Bull Rushes, Trips, and Overruns, or even some plain old damage reduction (fighters in core get DR 5/- out of left field suddenly, I'd rather have seen it scale).
But I'll give it to them for trying.
The WMH is a great book, but IMO it feels too much like a band-aid and suffers from having rather boring options (e.g.: a multitude of "you add your WT bonus to X, Y and Z"), which is effective, but boring. Personaly, I only alllw WMH and AMH material on a case-by-case basis and instead tell players to use my homebrew Fighter (which I'm honestly proud of).
EDIT: This post reminds me of a thing you said back on the Whaizo boards a few years ago. You mentioned that my games sounded kind of crazy but wondrous in how everything was usually just ran strait and wild (I believe it was when Bob Loblaw was talking about troubles in his epic games and I suggested simulacrum to get a planetar or solar to act as their party medic between fights because his group was very martial heavy and very short on healers). Yet my games are fairly tame most of the time, and I'm a big advocate that the system is pretty strong, and you actually can have an easier time as a GM learning to let the system prop itself up rather than fighting with it. :)
There's so many things that can fundamentally change in a game when you tweak things. The ripple effects can be huge. Like point buy. I always used standard 15 PB, but a lot of people use 20 or higher, but that simple change alone can drastically influence the appeal of lots of things in the game. For example, Chainmail is one of my favorite armors because it's usually available at 1st level for martials, offers a +6 armor, and a +2 max Dex, and that +2 Max Dex is plenty for quite a while; but in a campaign where everyone and their neighbor can casually afford a 16-18 Dexterity on a secondary stat, the Chainmail is significantly less attractive. I'd say the same also happens with things like the Full Plate.Last edited by Ashiel; 2019-04-05 at 03:05 PM.
You are my God.
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2019-04-06, 07:57 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Well... To me, a -5 is quite a heavy penalty. I really dislike armor penalty to skills... Mostly because most characters don't have any real alternative to wearing armor, so they are basically being penalized for not being Wizards. Hell! In most games I don't even enforce any armor penalties (other than ASF) unless the wearer isn't proficient... So AT basically only in increases max Dex to AC... And synergizes with some cool Fighter options.
I actually prefer to give players high point-buy, as this honestly doesn't push their "core power" much higher and gives them some extra lateral competence.Last edited by Lemmy; 2019-04-06 at 07:58 AM.
Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-07, 06:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Ah, I see. -5 doesn't seem that bad to me since things like Stealth get modifiers based on distance, and it gives reasons to use things like ropes. With no check penalty, a mere +5 is enough to casually climb most uneven surfaces, but there's plenty of reason to toss people a rope when the DC to climb a knotted rope is like DC 5, which means even with the -5 you can make it taking 10 with a 0 Str modifier and no skills invested. And of course there's always things like masterwork tools which can be selected for any skill and weigh 1 lb each, which can allow you to pad skills like Stealth, Swim, Climb, etc a bit for pretty cheap (50 gp for a fine cloak, some cleats, or some shukos or something is beuno :P).
I still kinda feel like it might be kinda hard to swim in plate though.
EDIT: I also feel like there should be pros and cons to wearing the armors, since in pre-3E you pretty much just wore the heaviest armor possible. There was no real benefit for being a fighter who doesn't wear plate. In 3.x/PF, you can at least get some extra movement speed and better skill check modifiers in exchange for having worse AC.
I actually prefer to give players high point-buy, as this honestly doesn't push their "core power" much higher and gives them some extra lateral competence.Last edited by Ashiel; 2019-04-07 at 06:44 PM.
You are my God.
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2019-04-08, 07:07 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
I agree... As long as not wearing armor is a real option (for most classes, it isn't). And even then, I still think armor penalties should be lower (-0 or -1 for light, -2 for medium and -4 for heavy... Maybe higher for Stealth, specifically).
There could also be far fewer armor sets... 1 or 2 of each category would be more than enough. As with weapons, all that the huge list of armor sets accomplishes is making it more difficult to find the few that are objectively better than everything else.Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-08, 02:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
In my (ever so slowly advancing) d20L project, there are only 3 armors. Light, Medium, and Heavy. Light is +3 AC for -1 CP, Medium is +6 AC for -4, and Heavy is +9 AC for -6 (though one could modify that easily enough).
What kind of armor it is is fluff. Light armor could be leather, gambeson, hides, or piecemeal heavier armors (such as wearing greaves and armguards or a single chestplate), and that continues right up with medium and heavy. In a similar fashion, melee weapons are mechanically defined more by their size and tech level than a million and one individual weapons with slightly different stats. We really don't need fifteen different stats for a sword.Last edited by Ashiel; 2019-04-08 at 02:18 PM.
You are my God.
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2019-04-08, 09:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Well... Since we are commenting on armor, I might as well make another shameless plug and share a link to the latest draft of my Custom Armor Generation System.
It even includes rules for piece-meal armor (which is my favorite part of the project so far).
True in my Custom Weapon Generation System, I made a sample weapon list that offers far more actual variety than the list from RAW, even though it has far fewer weapons listed... And that's with just using the more ordinary weapon properties.Last edited by Lemmy; 2019-04-08 at 09:44 PM.
Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-13, 02:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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2019-04-14, 10:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
That reminds me... I could use your input on my prototype idea for automatic enhancement progression for weapons (RoP, AoNA and CoR are covered by other rules).
I was going to post a table, but I honestly don't know anymore how to make tables work here in giantitp... So instead you can just click here.
So... The idea is that character gain a certain amount of... Uh... Mojo (?) based on their level. They can allocate this mojo to any weapon/armor/shield they touch. However... How effective the infusion of "mojo" is, depends not only on the amount of mojo, but also whether or not the character is attuned the object. Character can only be attuned to four different objects (I may or may not create feats that raise this quantity)... An attuned weapon gains the full benefit of the infused "mojo", while other weapons only gain half the enhancement bonus (rounded down, minimum 0). That means back up weapons will generally never be as good as your main weapon, but also won't be completely useless.
Magical properties (flaming, keen, etc) are represented in the form of runes. Runes are magical abilities inherent to the weapon. They can be activated as long as the weapon has at least a +1 enhancement bonus. There are still weapons with inherent enhancement bonus to attack/damage... But they become extra-expensive for enhancement bonuses of +2 or higher, and are usually only used by people of vast wealth and little martial skill.
The progression I have in mind starts with a character having a +1 armor or shield at 3rd level and goes up to him having two +5 weapons, a +5 armor and a +5 shield at 20th level... Because of how the "mojo" progression scales, 2-handers still have an cost/efficiency advantage over TWFers and S&Bers, but it's considerably smaller than in RAW.Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-19, 03:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Hey, just want to let you all know, there was an early screening of Avengers: Endgame in the Middle East. People there recorded it and edited together a short video of all of the major plot points and released it online. Trolls have been spamming social media and other websites with spoilers. I've encountered a few minor ones, so consider avoiding the internet until you see the film.
Founding member of the Cult of Ashiel
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2019-04-19, 03:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Hey Ashiel what do you think about Pokemon video games?
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2019-04-19, 07:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-04-24, 05:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2011
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- Phoenix, AZ
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
I go to see Endgame tomorrow night. So ready for it.
Players are like water. They go everywhere.
So you need to cut the channels that direct them where you want them to go.
If they try to skip the channel, let them. Cut another one ahead of them.
Eventually, they'll take the channel. They'll even think it was entirely their own idea.
When you try to build a dam, that's when they resent you.
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2019-04-26, 09:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
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2019-04-28, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2008
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
due to money i won't be able to see it until dvd. But on the other hand I should have have my new computer built and running some time in June so is adulting.
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2019-05-17, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
I love 'em but haven't played any since Diamond/Pearl so I'm tragically outdated on them. Played them since they launched the 1st Gen.
Sorry to have taken a while to respond. Real life's kinda been weird. Been out of work, car was totaled by a bear, so between searching for cars, trying to lose weight and exercise, working on the house, trying to be active / working with my online RPG group, and writing, and hanging out with my family, I've kinda been under a rock. (6_6);
That said, I've got some cute things to show everyone. : )
So since I've been out of work I've been back to working on a system I wanna use to run my games in the future. I changed the name from d20 Legends 'cause I found out there's a d20 game with a similar name and I didn't want to confuse anyone or hurt any feelings, but a lot of the concepts are still the same and/or refined. The pdf is coming along fast enough that if I can keep up the pace I'm at now, it'll be ready for a public showing soonish.
However, what I wanted to show you today were some campaign pitches I handed out to one of my RPG groups who'll be playing the new system with me. At first the idea was to pick one, but then we decided that since each one has a pretty clear start and end goal, we could just marathon them like adventure paths, starting the next when the previous ended.
You can check them out on this Imgur page: Ashiel's Campaign PitchesLast edited by Ashiel; 2019-05-17 at 12:17 PM.
You are my God.
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2019-05-17, 01:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2015
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Car was totalled by a bear? What was it, a collision? A break-in attempt? A successful break-in, followed by an unsuccessful attempt at driving?
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2019-05-17, 02:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Well... That's what you get for letting bears drive your car.
Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.
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2019-05-17, 02:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
It went down less like this...
And more like this...
I was informed that aside from a Nissan logo being buried in his butt somewhere, the bear likely lives to jaywalk another day.Last edited by Ashiel; 2019-05-18 at 10:33 AM.
You are my God.
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2019-05-17, 02:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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2019-05-19, 02:47 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
As an Alaskan with bears that can weigh more than some cars, unless you drive a pretty beastly truck, the bear probably didn't even notice getting hit. Bastards are crazy tough.
Founding member of the Cult of Ashiel
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2019-05-19, 11:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Around here we have black bears, which are a lot smaller so I was actually pretty concerned it might have been wounded (though aside from some bear fur pinched between some of the folded metal, there was no sign on the car of the bear being injured at all, aside from the car itself being mangled). The bear ran across the road at night, and even with my headlights on, it being black as it was it was invisible right up until it was directly in front of my headlights (which happened to be a foot or so from my car) so I didn't even have time to brake and just plowed into the bear at a solid 55 mph.
Bear kept going though. I hope it learned to look both ways before crossing.You are my God.
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2019-06-11, 08:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
Hey Ashiel. What's your favorite Dragon from D&D and Pathfinder?
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2019-06-11, 11:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2016
Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
It's probably one of the chromatics.
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2019-06-12, 09:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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2019-06-12, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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Re: Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II
I wonder if Ash even checks this thread still...
Homebrew Stuff:- Lemmy's Custom Weapon Generation System! - (D&D 3.X and PF)
Not all heroes wield scimitars, falchions and longbows! (I'm quite proud of this one ) - Lemmy's Homebrew Cauldron
You can find all my work here.