B. A mute sorcerer girl in a setting where sorcerers were hunted and exterminated, turned remarkably bitter and violent. She gleefully made an orc think it was burning to death when it finally turned out she would have to use her powers.
de... Delirium?
I don't know... I can only think of one fictional character named Delirium, and that doesn't really match up.
I was just thinking girl + illusion powers
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
I run a game for Callius and Natasha, and they're fine, as I expected them to be, but I know them both well enough to know they aren't the sort that would cause a problem. My wife wanted to play and I straight said no, because I don't want that relationship to be affected by the fact that I'm the DM and she's just another player instead of my wife when I pick up my books. I love her and would love to play with her and include her, but not if I'm in any position of decision making or power over her. I don't need those sorts of dynamics going on.
So you'd play with her as a fellow player? I can see that. If people want to make our game a regular thing I'm sure we could work out a DM rotation of some sort. Speaking of, is everyone up for this Sunday?
Waiting on word from Cal, but things are up in the air right now as to whether he'll have time. And there's a chance I'll be taking off for a short road trip, but I'll wait until after the game if it is on.
Alright, hope Cal works it out because I really want to clobber some goblins.
I hope next time we play I don't get peppered with crossbow bolts.
Although it was worth it for those last two crits from Cal and myself.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
B. A mute sorcerer girl in a setting where sorcerers were hunted and exterminated, turned remarkably bitter and violent. She gleefully made an orc think it was burning to death when it finally turned out she would have to use her powers.
de... Delirium?
I don't know... I can only think of one fictional character named Delirium, and that doesn't really match up.
I was just thinking girl + illusion powers
Yeah, I can say how you'd get a Delirium analogue there
I think I'm going to run my pure spellslinger as an immoral prick that only works with a party because it furthers his own ends. He won't be evil per se, but he will definitely be that guy who reminds the party what side their bread is buttered on concerning magic. He'll also be the one to never, ever put himself in harm's way for the good of anyone unless he's got something to lose.
I can't wait to run this guy.
At lest you're not playing a rogue.
I think if a player would try to play the amoral me-first-type rogue I would punch him.
I have never played a downright evil character. I'd just not be comfortable with it.
Not even in single player RPGs.
In NWN:Hordes of the Underdark, there was this beholder dungeon. I remember there being this kobold slave who gave you information.
When I had everything I needed from him I just magic missiled him and walked on.
I felt so bad about it later on that even tho I was already done with the dungeon I reloaded and did the whole thing again so that I could let the little guy live.
t. Runcubed I had a hard time being a bad guy in FO3 and can hardly be a Sith in KOTOR, but I also hate how all the good options are just so blatantly "YES THIS IS THE GOOD OPTION".
I guess I enjoyed KOTOR2 a lot despite it's faults because you were often morally grey.
I think if a player would try to play the amoral me-first-type rogue I would punch him.
I'm not exactly playing Raistlin Mejere, but I'm thinking more along the lines of an Elminster that went down the selfish path. He loves magic and all of it's possibilities, but he's not above breaking the law or pissing someone off provided he has an angle on them.
To Smart Hero: We're running 3.5, so I'm going human wizard 1/sorcerer1/(human paragon 3 OR wizard 3)/and then rolling into Ultimate Magus. I'm definitely considering the Toughness-->Arcane Toughness feat tree. I've already talked to our DM and I'm sacrificing my familiars from both classes for alternate class options. The Paragon is still up in the air for this campaign, but I hope he gives it to us; the extra HP and skill points would be a pretty fair trade for a single level of spellcasting, I think.
To Smart Hero: We're running 3.5, so I'm going human wizard 1/sorcerer1/(human paragon 3 OR wizard 3)/and then rolling into Ultimate Magus. I'm definitely considering the Toughness-->Arcane Toughness feat tree. I've already talked to our DM and I'm sacrificing my familiars from both classes for alternate class options. The Paragon is still up in the air for this campaign, but I hope he gives it to us; the extra HP and skill points would be a pretty fair trade for a single level of spellcasting, I think.
It can be a little convoluted, but I have a pretty clear goal with this one and this guy isn't overly complicated. I'm not building him to be any kind of combat monster, and his spell advancement is a bit slower by a handful of levels, but his versatility is going to be the bee's knees. Honestly, the ability to rack combat spells as a sorcerer and then keep my wizard slots open for backup is amazing to me.
What's the Ultimate Magus class do for ya, DW? I don't think I've heard of that one before.
It's a ten level prestige class that allows you to gain sorcerer and wizard levels at the same time with your lower level class getting a 10 level boost while your higher level gets a 7 level boost. You also get the ability to sack a spell slot from one class to pay for the metamagic cost (one for one) of the other class' spell.
Example: Ultimate Magus has a magic missile he wants heightened to 5th, but doesn't want to hold up a 5th level slot, nor does he want to spend extra time casting it. So, he sacks a 4th level slot from wizard to cast it at the 1st level as a sorcerer. There are other bonuses as well. Check out the Ultimate Magus Handbook for more.
in the only real DND experience I've had I played a Lawful Evil dude
it was completely satisfying
we just finished talking to this guy who was going to guide us through a swamp or something, and the party was walking through the forest, rest of the party in front with this dude and my character and my best buddy's barbarian in the back conspiring with each other
"you know," I say, "we really ought to kill him and take his stuff."
"you can't do that!" says the Fighter who overheard, really more of a Paladin from the way he acted
"sure we can," said the barbarian
"yeah, he lives in the middle of the fucking woods, all alone, in a damn hollowed-out tree stump"
"really, we'd be doing him a favour"
Okay, you know that Monster Building thing I linked a while back? The dude has done a really great job and expanded it all. Now you can create Monster, Traps, Powers, and Weapons, all properly formatted to look like a stat block or item card from 4e. You can take the Monsters and Traps you've put together and combine them to create Encounters, which (soon) you'll be able to export to sites like Obsidian Portal or print them up. Very awesome web tools for running a game.
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
edited April 2009
Honestly, I thought that link was going to go to asmor's site and his sweet monster maker program. I hadn't heard of this site before, so I'm going to check it out.
Okay dudes I have a question, specifically for my fellow GMs in the house.
Bit of explanation: I am starting a Mutants & Masterminds campaign soon with my buddies. It's a small group, only three players. I'm doing a little bit of a twist on the standard super-hero setting, that pulls in espionage and conspiracy theory elements and stuff.
Anyway, this isn't so much about the setting as the mechanics.
First, I'm not sure what level I want to run it at. Power Level 10 is M&M's "default" and basically puts the player characters on par with most DC and Marvel superheroes. I might want to do something like that, or I might want to do something lower, like 6-8 (within the realm of action-movie protaganists and "street-level" superheroes, or amateur super-heroes still learning their powers and abilities).
On top of that, I have a bit of a challenge with Mutants & Masterminds that is both an issue of the mechanics and the nature of a super-hero setting, an issue the book itself addresses but doesn't provide a clear answer for...
Super-heroes, generally speaking, do not "level up". Exceptions exist, sure, but for the most part once they've gotten their "origin arc" out of the way that sets up the hero's world, his powers, and his antagonists, he rarely actually increases in power or versatility, and doesn't generally acquire new abilities or resources.
In fantasy games and fiction, and to a lesser extent space opera games and fiction, it's not uncommon for the heroes to start as humble nobodies and eventually ascend to epic, world-shaking bad-asses.
The reason for this has to do with the mediums they are based on: In the fiction the games derive from, fantasy and space opera heroes usually follow a distinct arc, generally based around archetypes and mythic hero cycles. They start out as the orphan boy or the low-rung soldier and eventually become a highly-skilled, competent, powerful warrior and leader of men.
Super-hero comics, on the other hand, while possessing distinct story arcs do not generally "end". Spider-Man's stories have been going on for decades now, and while periodically the character is "shaken up" (given new powers, a new main story focus, etc.) he usually ends up back at the established status quo for the character. Sometimes this sort of reboot/retcon/rollback is extremely heavy-handed (see: Brand New Day) in order to return the character to their "roots" (whatever the writers/editor determine that to be at the time).
I want the player characters to have some kind of character advancement. I want them to have some kind of mechanical advantage or reward linked to their actions in the game, because let's face it, that sort of thing is simply intrinsic to roleplaying games. Without it, the game sessions can start to feel a little stagnant, no matter how awesome the stories and character drama is.
But it doesn't feel appropriate to simply grant them bonus power points and raise the Power Level every 15 points (like the book recommends), because super-heroes don't really work like that.
It just feels weird.
Also, I don't really want to have to deal with really bad "super-power creep", where the characters start out as decent or even amateur super-heroes and eventually turn into Pre-Crisis Superman.
Yay! Mutants and Masterminds questions - I'm useful again!
My advice, Pony? Give out power points in low amounts, and just don't raise the power level of the campaign. That allows the characters to advance by growing in breadth, but not height - learning how to use their powers in new ways, gaining new skills, learning how to better handle themselves in a fight, etc.
Alright, so I believe the most important thing you should do is probably sitting down with the players and describing most of what you just expressed here. Tell them that you want to advance them slowly and see how they gauge the situation.
As to the power-creep problem. If you & the players have a sound agreement then I'd envision something akin to Heroes (I know... it's bad and terribly). Example: In the beginning of his career the Emerald Flame has very basic fire manipulation as he hasn't truly mastered his power yet but as he gains experience his manipulation grows stronger.
A good visual example might be looking at The Batman, Batman: the Animated Series, and Justice League (and in that order). It shows the same character, with essentially the same skills but over time his mastery of them is near legendary.
So I'd recommend establishing a social contract with your players and rewarding them with really strong character development can sometimes overshadow getting a power boost (I know it would for me).
also see if you can pin them down to one 'power source', that way if they want to buy new powers, they can do it as long as they can explain the use of that power within their power source.
for example, if a guy had fire manipulation, he could buy a binding power and say that he was creating spinning rings of fire around his foes, preventing them from moving without being burned up
Posts
I was just thinking girl + illusion powers
I hope next time we play I don't get peppered with crossbow bolts.
Although it was worth it for those last two crits from Cal and myself.
Yeah, I can say how you'd get a Delirium analogue there
At lest you're not playing a rogue.
I think if a player would try to play the amoral me-first-type rogue I would punch him.
Not even in single player RPGs.
In NWN:Hordes of the Underdark, there was this beholder dungeon. I remember there being this kobold slave who gave you information.
When I had everything I needed from him I just magic missiled him and walked on.
I felt so bad about it later on that even tho I was already done with the dungeon I reloaded and did the whole thing again so that I could let the little guy live.
I guess I enjoyed KOTOR2 a lot despite it's faults because you were often morally grey.
At least in the prequels.
KOTOR era was all - Send kittens to college!
edit: Star Wars future (past? long long time ago :P) kittens. Spacekataz.
I'm not exactly playing Raistlin Mejere, but I'm thinking more along the lines of an Elminster that went down the selfish path. He loves magic and all of it's possibilities, but he's not above breaking the law or pissing someone off provided he has an angle on them.
To Smart Hero: We're running 3.5, so I'm going human wizard 1/sorcerer1/(human paragon 3 OR wizard 3)/and then rolling into Ultimate Magus. I'm definitely considering the Toughness-->Arcane Toughness feat tree. I've already talked to our DM and I'm sacrificing my familiars from both classes for alternate class options. The Paragon is still up in the air for this campaign, but I hope he gives it to us; the extra HP and skill points would be a pretty fair trade for a single level of spellcasting, I think.
It can be a little convoluted, but I have a pretty clear goal with this one and this guy isn't overly complicated. I'm not building him to be any kind of combat monster, and his spell advancement is a bit slower by a handful of levels, but his versatility is going to be the bee's knees. Honestly, the ability to rack combat spells as a sorcerer and then keep my wizard slots open for backup is amazing to me.
It's a ten level prestige class that allows you to gain sorcerer and wizard levels at the same time with your lower level class getting a 10 level boost while your higher level gets a 7 level boost. You also get the ability to sack a spell slot from one class to pay for the metamagic cost (one for one) of the other class' spell.
Example: Ultimate Magus has a magic missile he wants heightened to 5th, but doesn't want to hold up a 5th level slot, nor does he want to spend extra time casting it. So, he sacks a 4th level slot from wizard to cast it at the 1st level as a sorcerer. There are other bonuses as well. Check out the Ultimate Magus Handbook for more.
Luke was the least douchiest of all the Jedi. I will stand by this.
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Indeed.
The Ep 1 - 3 Jedis are just horrible.
Confused Mathews reviews of them are hilarious. And sadly so so true.
it was completely satisfying
we just finished talking to this guy who was going to guide us through a swamp or something, and the party was walking through the forest, rest of the party in front with this dude and my character and my best buddy's barbarian in the back conspiring with each other
"you know," I say, "we really ought to kill him and take his stuff."
"you can't do that!" says the Fighter who overheard, really more of a Paladin from the way he acted
"sure we can," said the barbarian
"yeah, he lives in the middle of the fucking woods, all alone, in a damn hollowed-out tree stump"
"really, we'd be doing him a favour"
I was such a bad influence on that barbarian
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
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Now
To be fair there are only 3 Jedi in the original trilogy.... And I would say Qui-Gon was a lot less douchy then Luke.
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Council was taken down by a single, old dude. I don't put much faith into them.
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So, who was the douchiest Jedi?
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Bit of explanation: I am starting a Mutants & Masterminds campaign soon with my buddies. It's a small group, only three players. I'm doing a little bit of a twist on the standard super-hero setting, that pulls in espionage and conspiracy theory elements and stuff.
Anyway, this isn't so much about the setting as the mechanics.
First, I'm not sure what level I want to run it at. Power Level 10 is M&M's "default" and basically puts the player characters on par with most DC and Marvel superheroes. I might want to do something like that, or I might want to do something lower, like 6-8 (within the realm of action-movie protaganists and "street-level" superheroes, or amateur super-heroes still learning their powers and abilities).
On top of that, I have a bit of a challenge with Mutants & Masterminds that is both an issue of the mechanics and the nature of a super-hero setting, an issue the book itself addresses but doesn't provide a clear answer for...
Super-heroes, generally speaking, do not "level up". Exceptions exist, sure, but for the most part once they've gotten their "origin arc" out of the way that sets up the hero's world, his powers, and his antagonists, he rarely actually increases in power or versatility, and doesn't generally acquire new abilities or resources.
In fantasy games and fiction, and to a lesser extent space opera games and fiction, it's not uncommon for the heroes to start as humble nobodies and eventually ascend to epic, world-shaking bad-asses.
The reason for this has to do with the mediums they are based on: In the fiction the games derive from, fantasy and space opera heroes usually follow a distinct arc, generally based around archetypes and mythic hero cycles. They start out as the orphan boy or the low-rung soldier and eventually become a highly-skilled, competent, powerful warrior and leader of men.
Super-hero comics, on the other hand, while possessing distinct story arcs do not generally "end". Spider-Man's stories have been going on for decades now, and while periodically the character is "shaken up" (given new powers, a new main story focus, etc.) he usually ends up back at the established status quo for the character. Sometimes this sort of reboot/retcon/rollback is extremely heavy-handed (see: Brand New Day) in order to return the character to their "roots" (whatever the writers/editor determine that to be at the time).
I want the player characters to have some kind of character advancement. I want them to have some kind of mechanical advantage or reward linked to their actions in the game, because let's face it, that sort of thing is simply intrinsic to roleplaying games. Without it, the game sessions can start to feel a little stagnant, no matter how awesome the stories and character drama is.
But it doesn't feel appropriate to simply grant them bonus power points and raise the Power Level every 15 points (like the book recommends), because super-heroes don't really work like that.
It just feels weird.
Also, I don't really want to have to deal with really bad "super-power creep", where the characters start out as decent or even amateur super-heroes and eventually turn into Pre-Crisis Superman.
That's no fun, either.
So, what should I do? I'm not sure.
My advice, Pony? Give out power points in low amounts, and just don't raise the power level of the campaign. That allows the characters to advance by growing in breadth, but not height - learning how to use their powers in new ways, gaining new skills, learning how to better handle themselves in a fight, etc.
Alright, so I believe the most important thing you should do is probably sitting down with the players and describing most of what you just expressed here. Tell them that you want to advance them slowly and see how they gauge the situation.
As to the power-creep problem. If you & the players have a sound agreement then I'd envision something akin to Heroes (I know... it's bad and terribly). Example: In the beginning of his career the Emerald Flame has very basic fire manipulation as he hasn't truly mastered his power yet but as he gains experience his manipulation grows stronger.
A good visual example might be looking at The Batman, Batman: the Animated Series, and Justice League (and in that order). It shows the same character, with essentially the same skills but over time his mastery of them is near legendary.
So I'd recommend establishing a social contract with your players and rewarding them with really strong character development can sometimes overshadow getting a power boost (I know it would for me).
for example, if a guy had fire manipulation, he could buy a binding power and say that he was creating spinning rings of fire around his foes, preventing them from moving without being burned up
that sort of thing