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Post by hamurai on Mar 25, 2023 0:04:20 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing!
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Post by hamurai on Mar 25, 2023 0:02:58 GMT -6
I voted No, as I stated in the other thread, I'd say that the spell forces any creature into the new form, spectres and the like would be forced to assume a corporeal state and different form.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 24, 2023 23:59:38 GMT -6
I voted No. If one wanted to apply a reason to this, one could argue that some of the incorporeal creatures (those without a stable form) would be immune, because if their form is unstable, it might not hold the effect of a Polymorph for long.
Personally, I'd say that magic trumps the other abilities (I can't think of a creature where I might rule otherwise right now). The spell will therefore force any creature into the specified form and even force them to become corporeal.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 24, 2023 23:50:36 GMT -6
Well, if spear-throwers are used to defend, there probably will be places where they can get new spears once they have thrown one. Otherwise, there would not be too much sense in using them instead of bowmen, for example. I'd imagine there are barrels with additional spears close by, and probably more of them can be brought within a short time.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 21, 2023 9:03:09 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing!
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Post by hamurai on Mar 17, 2023 23:54:20 GMT -6
Dungeon World lets the player cast freely, but they have to make a roll. If I remember correctly, on an unsuccessful roll, they can choose if the spell takes effect or they forget the spell. I've seen a similar idea in some OSR game.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 15, 2023 23:33:21 GMT -6
For me, there was nothing in the LBBs that Greyhawk supplement didn't fix. The d4 Hit Die for Thieves was something I didn't understand at all. Which is probably explained easily, because I only really started playing D&D with AD&D 2E where the Thief included corsairs and highway men and other fighty variants, and were tougher than MUs. It took me a while to realize that the OD&D/GH Thief was just more or less a nerdy expert in lockpicking who'd rather get in and out without any encounter at all.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 15, 2023 23:26:57 GMT -6
My comment doesn't make sense without context. Most of my high-level play experience in 5E from Adventurer's League, which tends to be a short roleplay followed by three combats and then wrap-up. Within this format the long-term effects of rests don't seem to come into play but instead it's a matter of how many combat rounds for each of the three encounters. I typically try to use my cantrips a lot early on and then switch to spells as we get closer to the "big bad" at the end, and almost always I find spell slots remaining at the end. Perhaps I need to go to levelled spells earlier, but at those levels cantrips are usually doing 2d10 damage or something similar. Ah, right. With that context, I totally agree. ... I've always been one to conserve resources whereever possible when I play a character. Same here Although I must admit, I cast more freely when I play a pure "utility" mage - when I encounter a scene where Spider Climb or Jump (as examples) are of help, I just use them, because the amount of scenes involving a chance to use these kind of spells are usually very low. I tend to keep an AoE attack and/or control spell up my sleeve in case som encounter goes very wrong, but since I switched out the combat spells for utility spells I've been having more fun as a spell-caster. Everyone can deal damage, but many spells leave the group and often enough the DM amazed at what the spell can do, and how helpful it is when used in the right way and situation.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 15, 2023 8:46:18 GMT -6
When you use XP for gold in a strict sense (as described in M&M), XP are clearly broken, aren't they? When your campaign steers away from dungeon exploration and looting and into politics and management of a barony, you'll hardly battle monsters for gold, so you can't get any XP at all. Even overcoming a death maze of traps and looting it would yield no XP as no monsters are fought, so XP in M&M don't make a lot of sense. Of course, playing the first few levels of OD&D, you probably won't recognize the issue, as even a few bigger treasures will be enough to make the PCs level up, but if you'd have to haul tens of thousands of gold out of a dungeon to make the players feel like they made a little progress, it's just ridiculous. In combat, I think the thrill shifts on higher levels - it's no longer about if you hit or not, but more about avoiding really deadly attacks like insta-death rays and the like. The Saving Throws are taking over the role the To-Hit rolls had in early play. Clever usage of protection spells will enhance the experience for MU players, which I think doesn't make combat broken, just different. (That's no different in 5E, by the way. When you reach 4th level, you'll start fighting enemies with multi-attack regularly, and then you'll suddenly have to focus more on defense than offense, at least until your characters catch on and level up. Enemy abilities are still a huge game changer and the fact that you might have a +10 attack bonus doesn't help if the enemy can control/charm you with an ability which you can counter with a WIS save, which you have at -2, maybe.) My big issue with spells has always been the inability to adjust the spell selection to the adventure. You memorize and when you do it wrong, you can't help a lot. I think that's why so many players want to focus on combat spells, because combat is the single sure thing that's going to happen. But utility spells like Levitate, Wizard Lock, Water Breathing.... Will situations arise when you can use them? If not, you wasted a spell slot. The issue gets even bigger when the spell list is increased. 5E amends this somewhat with spells slots instead of memorization, which is much better in my book. But still, you have to memorize spells. By the way, Finarvyn why would more spells slots than rounds in a combat be an issue in 5E? You usually don't regain them until you take a long rest, which probably doesn't happen that often? I've mostly played spell-casters in 5E but never felt like I could spam my spells (except Cantrips, of course). Thieves are only broken if you take the %-chance as fixed. The early chances of 15% or 20% are so low that often enough a thief player will not be able to contribute anything to the adventure on early levels, while there's no danger left on higher levels with a 100% chance. Once you start applying modifiers, it's perfectly all right. Easy locks will give a bonus of up to +50% (e.g. a lock made by giants will be huge and easy to manipulate, if you know how it works), while hard locks will be at up to -50% for half-magical locks made by the tiny hands of an expert pixie locksmith, for example. The same is true for traps, of course. Also, only at last (14th) level will all skills be maxed out. I agree, the sweet spot is between levels 4 and 8, Hero to Superhero. The characters are competent enough that a single bad roll usually doesn't mean the end (exceptions exist, of course), but not yet super-powerful so enemies are hardly a challenge any more. Many interesting monsters exist which share these levels, so encounters can have a great variety and keep being interesting.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 13, 2023 23:16:29 GMT -6
Good answers! Although I must say, if Charm worked through the sound, it would be an AoE spell centered around the caster, wouldn't it? So, again, I think Mirror Image will protect against Charm. I'd say, usually you'd have to concentrate on the target's aura or something, so you'd need to know where or who your target is.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 12, 2023 0:46:49 GMT -6
The S&W Complete just came out in German and I got the collector's edition. I'm set.
Also, the new standard cover art doesn't look appropriate at all. I'm not saying it's bad art, but it's better for a Monster Manual or for the monster section inside. As a cover for the entire book? Ugh. A reason to get the collector's edition.
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Post by hamurai on Mar 12, 2023 0:43:33 GMT -6
The Basic Sets, the RC and AD&D 1E & 2E PHB mirror ( ) OD&D's spell description. The RC includes the clarification that if an AoE spell hits images and caster, all images are destroyed. AD&D adds a pointless d100-based way to calculate the number of images (why not just use a d4?). The AD&D 2E PHB is the first book where the number of images is increased depending on the caster's level (1d4 + 1 per 3 levels), maximum 8. So, none of these editions clearly clarify the issue, but some point out that even magic melee weapons are affected by the spell. Personally, we played as captainjapan stated: If you have to pick a target creature, Mirror Image will affect that.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 28, 2023 23:05:41 GMT -6
I'm interested to know hear what others are thinking/feeling... especially if you are or have been an OD&D-esque writer publisher type. My goup got into 5E quickly when it came out and I've got a couple of books on my shelf, although I have to admit that I'll be selling most of them when I get the chance. I'll keep the core (PHB, DMG, MM) and maybe a supplement or two, but I care nothing about 1D&D right now and I have no plans to get any subscription to play it. I don't hate Hasbro/WotC for what has been, I'll just turn my back and move on, knowing that in the future we'll have to be extra doubtful and analyzing when they tell us anything, but - as has been stated - one has to recognize that they have brought D&D back from the abyss for a new generation to enjoy, and they probably don't really care about lots of stuff that makes us frown (D&D and in general), but if they're willing to play a game with us (and accept that we do and call things a little differently), I think it's a good thing. Maybe I'd feel differently if my group was still playing D&D at the moment, but the campaign is on a hiatus and we're trying different games.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 25, 2023 0:37:44 GMT -6
DCC. Since you prefer the small stat blocks and often cut the 5E stats to OSR size anyway, it makes most sense to me. I've run DCC adventure modules with other OSR systems, and they hardly need changes. And mayyyyybe with that new shiny tome of adversaries on the table, your group will be tempted to play DCC
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Post by hamurai on Feb 22, 2023 23:41:45 GMT -6
... Of course, VTTs will do that for you easily, but at the table it's quite different. And a VTT will do either, really. Thanks for the vote! I will say that my VTT of choice, Roll20, won't do either, to my knowledge. Drawing a circle/ellipse is by total width (not center-to-radius), and a circular token gets scaled by total width (same as any other tokens), etc. Precisely that the other day, needing to convert from radius to diameter for everything in the VTT, is what put me over the edge to ask this question. True, Roll20 doesn't do that. IIRC Foundry uses radius, but it's been a while since we played D&D there, so don't quote me on that. I still fiind it a lot easier to use the diameter template in a VTT than IRL, as you can easily see if you've got your template centre exactly on the centre of the AoE. If you've got a fixed AoE radius and a transparent template, it's also easy at the table, but most of the time the radius is not fixed for all effects.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 22, 2023 2:19:37 GMT -6
Clearly radius!
Usually you need that when you cast a spell and want to know, who or what is affected. It's much easier to draw a line from the center of the effect to the target(s) than use a template and try to get it matching exactly with the center of the effect. Of course, VTTs will do that for you easily, but at the table it's quite different. And a VTT will do either, really.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 16, 2023 23:53:23 GMT -6
I like Dungeon Crawl Classics' take on magic. You can pretty much cast as much as you want, but when you fail, you risk corruption. My 4th-level Wizard had his right leg grow 2 inches, so his gait is off now - a lucky roll, that could have been much worse.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 16, 2023 23:44:25 GMT -6
Better luck on the next run!
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Post by hamurai on Feb 14, 2023 23:44:06 GMT -6
Maybe I have to re-read the rules, but as far as I remember, you should always be able to use a healing potion, but healing spells still take your action?
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Post by hamurai on Feb 14, 2023 23:42:26 GMT -6
I can't help but feel like there's room for a more streamlined game, about the chunkiness of the Rules Cyclopedia, that uses a core like 5e but without so much bloat. Isn't this already what Into The Unknown does? I seem to recall it's the "O5R" game of choice. Into The Unknown blends 5E and B/X. @topic: I was also underwhelmed by the document. I had hoped for something more original. Apparently the goal is just pretty much what the SRD does, giving a fundament for a fantasy RPG based on 5E.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 13, 2023 23:22:59 GMT -6
The lizard man is also present on the DM screen done by Tramp. I've gotten the impression that the lizard man was a major monster-antagonist in old campaigns -- perhaps on par with if not greater than orcs, goblins and the like. A classic antagonist from the Sword & Sorcery genre, I'd say. I'd guess they might have been even more widely-known than than orcs and goblins?
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Post by hamurai on Feb 13, 2023 23:20:09 GMT -6
Just two days ago a friend and I started playing the new HeroQuest with the app, so we could both be players. The app works, but it slows down things a lot. In the end, we played the last map with me looking at the quest book but covering most of the map with a sheet and trying hard to only look at the next room. Like we did as kids, in fact. I works just fine and is a lot faster than using the app.
I definitely know (again), why this game had such a huge impact on my gaming. I still enjoy it very much, despite and because of its simplicity.
I have both the old and the new HeroQuest. I just had to get the new one, too. Especially for all the ultra rare expansions which never made it to our little town in Germany back in the day. Which do I prefer? I like both a lot. The old one has its very special charm, but I do like the new mini sculpts. The quality of some of the minis and the furniture was a let-down, though. Especially the Chaos Warriors (they'll always have their old name for us) were bent in a way they would hardly stand on the board. I've started painting them and they're looking great. The Contrast Paint really helps bringing out all the little details which were hidden before. Sadly, also some of the faults. Those are removed if possible, or painted over.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 12, 2023 23:22:53 GMT -6
Welcome back, then!
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Post by hamurai on Feb 10, 2023 10:27:09 GMT -6
I had to check Google for a picture, it's been too long that I saw the film. But yeah, that's pretty much plate mail in my games, too. You probably can't take a lot from that armour and still have it count as plate mail, though
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Post by hamurai on Feb 10, 2023 4:00:59 GMT -6
Often there's a distinction between chain mail and chain shirt - in the video, we clearly see a shirt. I guess moving with mail on the legs would be a little noisier. But still, I've often wondered if bad-quality leather armour wouldn't be more noisy, actually.
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Post by hamurai on Feb 6, 2023 23:03:55 GMT -6
Welcome, newbies!
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Post by hamurai on Jan 31, 2023 23:11:00 GMT -6
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Post by hamurai on Jan 29, 2023 2:15:48 GMT -6
(3) None of this really addresses your question. I think that the key is that you are thinking of deities from a "modern" approach where you are "a cleric of XX" but in the older days our group assumed that clerics were sort of Christianity or anti-Christianity (Satanism? I'm not sure we ever really said). Good-guy clerics would never use magic to hurt people, was our rationale at the time. Nowadays my players of clerics all want to pick a deity and I can see where the law/chaos distinction gets pretty blurred. Interesting, I honestly never thought of Chaos Clerics as evil or satanists. Evil clerics and satanists sure are part of the chaotic clerics, but in my games, chaotic also included "heathen" as in shamans, viking priests... In my understanding, the non-reversable (damaging) spells are an evil use of divine power - you cannot or shall not use divine power to (directly) harm, if it's meant to be used for healing. Heathen priests will have a different approach and their deities will be OK with that.
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Post by hamurai on Jan 29, 2023 2:09:54 GMT -6
Troika! is another possibility. Great game! Based on the (Advanced) Fighting Fantasy System, very hackable and very quick when playing.
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Post by hamurai on Jan 24, 2023 23:11:14 GMT -6
I’m intrigued by the impression that it’s very much geared to improvisation. It probably needs to have things strongly tied in to the setting and situation and characters at hand, as opposed to being a ‘machine’ that’s very interesting in the abstract. Physical combat appears to be less a sub-game in itself than an application of general rules for challenges (e.g., the three resource point pools). Correct, the basic rule is used for everything - in case of combat, the difficulty is represented by the enemy, the Target Number to hit is the difficulty times 3. That's also used to evade attacks from that enemy. There are a few exceptions, when enemies attack as "level +1" or something, and if you have applicable skills, you reduce the difficulty by 1 or 2 (before multiplying), depending on your skill level. If the difficulty falls to 0, the check is passed automatically. You can reduce the diffculty in other ways, like by using Effort, which means you spend some points of your stat pools to reduce the difficulty. Depending on your level (Tier), you can do that once or several times. I think it’s the Cyphers of the title that were mostly literal treasures (one-shot magic items) in Numenera, but call for some other rationale in other contexts because they’re pretty important to exciting flow of the game. Yep. In fantasy games, these would be potions, wands, magic arrows and other items which have 1 or just a few charges. In near Sci-Fi these could be drug injections, special ammo, etc. Not everything will be easy to tie into the game, and some Cyphers will just not fit your game, but that's for the GM to decide. The few and big steps in advancement might be less jarring to many OSR people than to folks accustomed to 20 levels, but I gather that there is (at least in the Claim the Sky supplement for the comicbook superhero genre) provision for extending to 15. That's true. It's just not a system for power-gamers and number crunchers. But that doesn't have t obe bad, does it? A shortcoming I’ve seen alluded to is in vehicle combat (but may be relevant to other contexts). Allegedly the maths of the abstraction break down in ways that remind me somewhat of Tunnels & Trolls. My guess is that’s probably easier to fix with a simple change of formalism in Cypher. I don't remember vehicle combat, to be honest. Our GM said he used the same stats and rules as for characters when it was vehicle vs vehicle, I believe. But it didn't come up a lot, so I forgot.
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