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Apparently I was unclear. What grates on my nerves is the idea of a wet behind the ears kid, clutching a handful of freshly inked scrolls, who wanders into the "old haunted caves" and then crawls back out- six months or six decades later- fully lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree, filled with five lifetimes of knowledge, 20th level, etc. etc...
Meanwhile, all the dozens of societies, pantheons of gods, creatures of the under dark, all see him come out, and ask "Who the **** is this guy?"
As far as IRL people go, I'm a firm believer that Einstein was 4th level, and so was Jim Thorpe.
Also, I'm not saying every high level character should be a household name. But players know players.
The amusing thing is that since the DC to identify a creature is (at least in 3.5) harder as it gains more levels, the world has a tougher time figuring out who the almighty demigod is than recognizing the clumsy beginner. Then again, those people tend to be decked out in so much stuff that they barely look like their own species, never mind the person they were before they went on the road.
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Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
The amusing thing is that since the DC to identify a creature is (at least in 3.5) harder as it gains more levels, the world has a tougher time figuring out who the almighty demigod is than recognizing the clumsy beginner. Then again, those people tend to be decked out in so much stuff that they barely look like their own species, never mind the person they were before they went on the road.
Plus I tend to prefer running that the various common buff-enchants (strength, natural armor, etc) actually change your appearance. (So someone wearing strength items is more muscular, con items more thick-boned, NA means your skin gets more leathery, etc.)
Plus I tend to prefer running that the various common buff-enchants (strength, natural armor, etc) actually change your appearance. (So someone wearing strength items is more muscular, con items more thick-boned, NA means your skin gets more leathery, etc.)
So the young buck who left home comes back 10 levels later, bursts through the door, and yells, "Hi mom!"
"AAAAAAIIIIIII!!!! A MONSTER!!"
Plus I tend to prefer running that the various common buff-enchants (strength, natural armor, etc) actually change your appearance. (So someone wearing strength items is more muscular, con items more thick-boned, NA means your skin gets more leathery, etc.)
Does increased Wisdom give you a longer, whiter beard?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
I thought it just looked like a philosophy diploma.
Hey, one guy I gamed with back in highschool was working on has his Ph.D. in philosophy when we ran into each other in grad school.
Looking at Wikipedia he's now the chief game designer at Zynga. So he's gainfully employed and is directly responsible for my wife wasting hundreds of hours of time.
OTOH it also looks like he never finished the degree.
New survey is up. WOTC wants to know in detail what you think of all the individual maneuvers, spells, magic items, and so forth.
Why am I not getting emails about these anymore? >:|
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Originally Posted by Doug Lampert
Hey, one guy I gamed with back in highschool was working on has his Ph.D. in philosophy when we ran into each other in grad school.
Looking at Wikipedia he's now the chief game designer at Zynga. So he's gainfully employed and is directly responsible for my wife wasting hundreds of hours of time.
OTOH it also looks like he never finished the degree.
Well clearly his degree didn't get him a job in philosophy (of which there's more or less just professor and author). And if he didn't even finish it then well there you go.
Are you privy to some version of the play test that no-one else has? As near as I can tell, they haven't released any high level play or legacy things for your to be dissatisfied in.
For me, high level play is ripe for more options than low-level play. I don't think that WotC will find most of those options profitable, so I expect to see a vibrant homebrew community grow around it. For my hard earned money, I'd rather them focus on making low level play cool.
You know, I'm curious. Do we have any information about how D&D Next handles alignment and how it applies to races? I recall seeing some articles about orcs and goblinoids that were more of the same old rubbish, but it's possible I don't have the whole picture.
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My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
Are you privy to some version of the play test that no-one else has? As near as I can tell, they haven't released any high level play or legacy things for your to be dissatisfied in.
Higher level play as in level 10.
Legacy is like ADDs castle and politics stuff. They talked about it.
^^That's not entirely accurate. There is expected to be a mechanical element to alignment, but it only applies to outsiders. Angels, demons, and whatnot. But anything native to the material plane likely won't have to worry about walking into a Magic Circle Against Good, or something like that.
Last edited by Madfellow : 11-09-2012 at 03:18 PM.
Probably not. Generally speaking, the idea of "Always Chaotic Evil" hasn't been received well, because of its unfortunate implications. More likely, monster descriptions will include something like, "These guys tend toward chaos more than law, and evil more than good. However, exceptions always exist."
More likely than that, even, monster descriptions will be more like what we've been getting in the Wandering Monster column at Wizards.com. It describes the monster and its usual motivations and social patterns, and leaves it at that.
Last edited by Madfellow : 11-09-2012 at 03:48 PM.
It describes the monster and its usual motivations and social patterns, and leaves it at that.
"Orc society is run entirely by murder and theft, not only of each other but also everyone they encounter. Orcs are also extremely lazy and never work for anything they can possibly steal from someone else, and they never do anything they could potentially force a slave to do for them. Their favorite pastime is to behead the women and children of their slave population and use the severed heads like rugby balls."
Ultimately it's boneheaded fluff-writing that's the real problem, and WotC is far from the only one guilty of it: The above description is a mash-up of the Orc, Ogre, and Gnoll societies from Pathfinder's fluff books.
"Orc society is run entirely by murder and theft, not only of each other but also everyone they encounter. Orcs are also extremely lazy and never work for anything they can possibly steal from someone else, and they never do anything they could potentially force a slave to do for them. Their favorite pastime is to behead the women and children of their slave population and use the severed heads like rugby balls."
Ultimately it's boneheaded fluff-writing that's the real problem, and WotC is far from the only one guilty of it: The above description is a mash-up of the Orc, Ogre, and Gnoll societies from Pathfinder's fluff books.
Well...what exactly are you expecting from orcs, ogres, and gnolls?
"Orc society is run entirely by murder and theft, not only of each other but also everyone they encounter. Orcs are also extremely lazy and never work for anything they can possibly steal from someone else, and they never do anything they could potentially force a slave to do for them. Their favorite pastime is to behead the women and children of their slave population and use the severed heads like rugby balls."
Ultimately it's boneheaded fluff-writing that's the real problem, and WotC is far from the only one guilty of it: The above description is a mash-up of the Orc, Ogre, and Gnoll societies from Pathfinder's fluff books.
That sounds AWESOME.
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Idiots give me indigestion.
Don't give me indigestion.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragonrider
Wadledo, you dislike EVERYONE. Therefore, you don't count.
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Originally Posted by Draken
Maybe this is the only true fix for spellcasting, making people scared of using it.
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Originally Posted by dragonprime
There's a concept called mercy. Are you familiar with it?
Probably not. Generally speaking, the idea of "Always Chaotic Evil" hasn't been received well, because of its unfortunate implications. More likely, monster descriptions will include something like, "These guys tend toward chaos more than law, and evil more than good. However, exceptions always exist."
More likely than that, even, monster descriptions will be more like what we've been getting in the Wandering Monster column at Wizards.com. It describes the monster and its usual motivations and social patterns, and leaves it at that.
I see. I'll be watching, I guess. Mostly out of curiosity, as I don't expect much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craft (Cheese)
"Orc society is run entirely by murder and theft, not only of each other but also everyone they encounter. Orcs are also extremely lazy and never work for anything they can possibly steal from someone else, and they never do anything they could potentially force a slave to do for them. Their favorite pastime is to behead the women and children of their slave population and use the severed heads like rugby balls."
Ultimately it's boneheaded fluff-writing that's the real problem, and WotC is far from the only one guilty of it: The above description is a mash-up of the Orc, Ogre, and Gnoll societies from Pathfinder's fluff books.
Yes, the depiction of the "monster races" in Pathfinder is sort of hilariously horrible. Grimderp is a good word for it.
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Originally Posted by AgentPaper
Well...what exactly are you expecting from orcs, ogres, and gnolls?
I don't know, not to be caricatures made up for the sole purpose of the PCs having someone whom it's okay to kill indiscriminately?
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My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
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