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Any splats with charmshare can learn Eclipse charms man, Eclipse charms are definitionally 'going outside splat themes' same as MA and Sorcery.
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Apr 9, 2019 17:32
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PurpleXVI posted:I presume that if the PC's walk in on Karitamen with arms bulging with his treasures, he's going to be a lot less cooperative than if they show up empty-handed but mildly bloodied from traps and fights. In the general setting fluff, a good 80% or so of all incidents where Tomb Kings have actively attacked other races and nations have "You plundered my tomb and stole my stuff, I want it back" as the casus belli. IIRC the Tomb Kings even once attacked Altdorf, but the main attack was a diversion while their real goal - which they succeeded at - was hitting the Imperial museum of history with its "Wonders of Ancient Nehekara!" display.
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Apr 9, 2019 17:33
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Exalted 3rd Edition: Fairies Fair Folk Cataphracts are your raksha warriors. They feed on fear and courage, when they are content to eat merely emotion rather than devour full souls. Some act with honor, while others are ruthless or cruel, but all are inhumanly deadly, unnatureally strong and armed with mystic wonders of glamour and dream. They vary wildly in appearance, but those that belong to the same courts or groups tend to be similar to each other - fire-eyed riders with leonine heads, amazonian killers atop nightmare-beasts or owl-faced knights in chariots drawn by humans. Cataphracts take on the roles of hunters, tyrants, monsters or even heroes when they enter Creation, but among their own kind most serve other raksha nobles, as captains or generals over the lesser Fair Folk or as armsmasters and bodyguards. Like all raksha, they are burned terribly by iron weapons, and they do not age, eat or drink. They can heal easily, as the Exalted do, but do need to breathe and sleep, and in Creation, they must devour souls to avoid calficiation and withering to nothingness. They are able to splinter into reflections of themselves to harm multiple foes, force their enemies to confront their greatest fears or call up armies from dreams and scraps of glamour, as well as use their Willpower itself to help defend against attacks. Fair Folk Loreleis are inhumanly beautiful raksha whose weapon is desire and longing. A rare few may get by merely feeding on the love and passion around them, but most of them crave the full taste of the human soul, slaying them with pleasure and drawing out their very being as feast. Loreleis appear differently across Creation, but all are beautiful, clad in riches and prone to enticing those they meet. Sometimes they gather in groups to better drag entire caravans or ships to their pleasant deaths, while others serve as courtiers in the raksha freeholds of the Wyld, playthings and schemers in the service of their noble masters - or commanders of their "masters" with the power of desire and pleasure. They share the raksha weaknesses of the Cataphracts, and are able to cloud the minds of others to make them not see danger and can cause obsession with a kiss. They also are unnaturally persuasive and in battle tend to rely on their ability to make people adore them, making their foes unable to harm them easily. Hobgoblins are the swarming, twisted hounds of raksha hunters, the monsters ruled over by the more potent masters. They lurk at times in the wilds of Creation, and while their appearances vary based on where you find them, they tend to be gnarled humanoid creatures with grasping limbs and vicious teeth and claws. They can survive on the radiant energies of the Wyld, but find the fear produced by humans much better a meal. They tend to try and intimidate foes in battle to draw out that fear, playing games with their victims rather htan going for clean kills, and enjoy taking prisoners to torment in their lairs for meals of terror. They can regain Willpower by attacking those that fear them and they can draw power from the pain their foes feel, but they are as weak to iron as any of the Fair Folk. Silverwights travel in packs on the edge of the world, appearing as shriveled, malnourished creatures with reverse-jointed limbs and vaguely c anid heads, about knee high to a grown man. Their bones, fangs and claws gleam silver, and while they hunt in packs, they are not animals. Each is nearly human in intellect, and they share a hivemind that they name the dreamweft, which shares their emotions and sensations between them, allowing for eerie, silent coordination. It is a common taboo for tribes near the Wyld to forbid pregnant women from entering the Wyld or the lands near it, as labor pains attract silverwights, who then attack and devour the mother and her companions, kidnapping the newborn child to be raised in their glass dens. The undeveloped mind of an infant can be brought into the dreamweft, which does them no lasting harm save for occasional flashes of alien emotion or abstract hallucination. The children are usually returned by night to the nearest border village or settlement, and the experiences and passions of the child as they grow feed the silverwights by flowing into the dreamweft. Silverwights grow more powerful and dangerous when around other Wyld creatures, including other silverwights, and can sense labor pains from hundreds of miles away when near the Wyld, though they will never harm a laboring mother until after she gives birth. Their small size makes them evasive, and they are very good at sharing information with each other over the dreamweft, making them hard to surprise and shockingly disciplined in battle. Buck-Ogres are giant, two-headed monsters found in the Northeast. Each is the size of a bull, with a humanoid torso on goatlike legs and two wild bucks' heads. Their antler charge is more than powerful enough to defeat a mammoth, but they tend to prefer relying on their weapons - axes, hammers, spears. They aren't stupid, and may well turn to raiding human settlements for metal or sophisticated goods that they cannot themselves produce, or for food when they cannot find any, but they usually avoid needless aggression and battle unless forced into it by a raksha master. They can spend Willpower to attack more than once and their antlers deal terrible damage to slower foes. They also are large enough to wield two-handed wepaons in a single hand, and their two heads make them very perceptive. Manticores are found in the South. The nomads of the South know that you must always thoroughly and quiockly destroy the bodies of those slain by a scorpion's sting, and even the hero Ghufran ordered his companions to eat him, for their own safety, when he lay dying of a scorpion sting. This is because when a lion eats the corpse of someone slain by a scorpion, the Wyld sometimes transforms the lion into a manticore, which has the lion's body and the head of the devoured mortal along with a scorpion tail. Manticores hunt alone and from ambush, with no fear of any being, and their venom is deadly enough to kill an elephant in seconds. Only magic can save those they poison, and when cornered, the only hope most mortals have is to be a clever enough speaker to converse with the manticore, which is as bright as the mortal devoured by the lion. Next time: Exalts
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Apr 9, 2019 17:34
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PurpleXVI posted:I presume that if the PC's walk in on Karitamen with arms bulging with his treasures, he's going to be a lot less cooperative than if they show up empty-handed but mildly bloodied from traps and fights. He is watching everything they do like it was a game show. Listening and watching and judging. There are a few specific things where if they do them, he will be outright hostile with no chance of talking him down when they reach him. The module also gives a bunch of different spots where they get a warning that he's probably awake, aware, and watching, giving a party that started out hostile/thieving a chance to change up what they're doing if they want to keep options open. But they also might be there to kill him as is, depending on the adventure, in which case steal all you wish. There are also a bunch of things you can do that will make him happy on reaching him, if you were going in with the intent of making an alliance. The whole 'the Tomb is your interaction with the central NPC' aspect is really well done. The issue is just going to be the combats and some of the traps. The mechanical balancing of the Tomb is such that Team 1 just can't handle it. Cythereal posted:In the general setting fluff, a good 80% or so of all incidents where Tomb Kings have actively attacked other races and nations have "You plundered my tomb and stole my stuff, I want it back" as the casus belli. There is a millennia long on and off war between a Tomb King and a Dwarf Hold over an unpaid runic hammer he commissioned. He died in the mess with Nehekara before he could pay his bill, and the dwarfs came to repossess the goods and strike out the 'stiffed us' grudge. Then he woke up and went 'Hey, someone stole my hammer', and the cycle began. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Apr 9, 2019 |
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Apr 9, 2019 17:36
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If raiders die in your tomb it's really just a plus to the amount of loot you have.
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Apr 9, 2019 17:43
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ChaseSP posted:If raiders die in your tomb it's really just a plus to the amount of loot you have. There are several points in the tomb where dead robbers have been mummified and added to the staff as bonus servants.
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Apr 9, 2019 17:44
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That Old Tree posted:Eeeeeeh. Sure, you should revise the parts of your text that "accidentally" promote bad ideas, but if you're going down this particular rabbit hole I'm not sure why you're still writing the Eugenics is Actually A Good Idea splat in the first place. Honestly, I like it. Yes, it encourages eugenics but central to encouraging eugenics is that the social measures necessary to run a eugenics programme are horrid. The Realm is an oppressive hegemonic empire that engages in large-scale social engineering programmes to create more soldiers. And that's bad - and we can recognize that it's bad. What it tells us about eugenics is that even taking for granted that eugenics produces the results you want, the costs are horrible and it should be self-evident why selective breeding of humans is evil, actually - and the only reason to do it in the first place is to be a hegemonic empire. I'm not sure, once a player sits down, looks at the setting's explicitly oppressive evil empire, and decides that they want to do that but with more treating humans as cattle, that the writer has any further duty to tell them that actually what they're planning is evil.
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Apr 9, 2019 18:42
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LatwPIAT posted:Honestly, I like it. Yes, it encourages eugenics but central to encouraging eugenics is that the social measures necessary to run a eugenics programme are horrid. The Realm is an oppressive hegemonic empire that engages in large-scale social engineering programmes to create more soldiers. And that's bad - and we can recognize that it's bad. What it tells us about eugenics is that even taking for granted that eugenics produces the results you want, the costs are horrible and it should be self-evident why selective breeding of humans is evil, actually - and the only reason to do it in the first place is to be a hegemonic empire. I blame Dune for rehabilitating eugenics within SF/F.
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Apr 9, 2019 20:26
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PurpleXVI posted:I know I keep harping on it, but it still annoys me when Solars start invading the other splats' turf in terms of ability thematics. Is it fluff as actual shapeshifting or just as illusions? Because if it's actual shapeshifting, goddammit guys, get a loving proper thematic for Solars and stop stealing from the Lunars and Sidereals. Lunar's gets the ability to learn charms from spirits etc in various ways as well (I think every splat does in some form?) and the Eclipse thematic is the wanderer in a strange land learning weird secrets from the mysterious inhabitants thereof. This particular power is shapeshifting, but there's a bunch that aren't. It's fine.
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Apr 9, 2019 20:43
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Thesaurasaurus posted:I blame Dune for rehabilitating eugenics within SF/F. 'Eugenics is just good sense in a world with magical power heredity!' is a weirdly common place for nerds to go. I hate it and it ruins narratives by its presence. It seems to come out of a kind of simulationism a lot of the time: If there really is inherited magic power, then apparently the next step is 'get real creepy about bloodlines.' ...I have recently been trying to enjoy reading the Paradise Lost CYOA on this very forum, and every time the fact that the protagonist is helping maintain eugenic purity of the polity he lives in comes up I get more and more distanced from the game as a whole, so I've decided I won't be joining that thread.
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Apr 9, 2019 21:14
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Joe Slowboat posted:'Eugenics is just good sense in a world with magical power heredity!' is a weirdly common place for nerds to go. I hate it and it ruins narratives by its presence. It seems to come out of a kind of simulationism a lot of the time: If there really is inherited magic power, then apparently the next step is 'get real creepy about bloodlines.' I like how Wheel of Time handled this. In that setting, magic is inborn but nobody is quite sure how it is determined. After all male channelers get cursed to go crazy and get hunted down, people notice a decline in the number of channelers overall. There's an in-universe scholar who believes this is because magic is hereditary and they basically just culled the human race, even making a convincing argument for it and laying out the eugenics program needed to reverse the trend. Except that it turns out to be entirely wrong, and other cultural factors were leading to most people with magic just not being discovered rather than not being born at all. It was a welcome subversion of the magic blood = eugenics angle
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Apr 9, 2019 21:18
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Thesaurasaurus posted:I blame Dune for rehabilitating eugenics within SF/F.
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Apr 9, 2019 21:29
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Exalted 3rd Edition: Less Specific Cool Stuff, More General Stuff Exalts are basically just people and Eclipses can't learn their powers. So isntead, they just provide general rules for how much Essence various Exalts should have, the Excellencies they have available and their theming for Charms. Dragon-Blooded are the most numerous Exalts, but have less power than Celestials. One innate benefit they've got, however is anima flux. A Dragon-Blood's anima is an aura of elemental power, and that power can destroy people and scenery around them in combat. In the core, what this means is that when a Dragon0Blood is at Bonfire level of anima, they do one die of withering damage to all non-Dragon-Bloods at Close Range, or Lethal damage to Crashed foes. Anyone with any Hardness ignores anima flux. We get some statblocks for Dragon-Bloods ranging from Essence 1 to 3, but I'm just going to elide over them because they've largely been obsoleted by the DBs book, which provides more useful Quick Character example characters and also updated rules for DBs in general. Luanrs are "the dread warlords of howling barbarian armies, skinwalkers who dance through forms of man and beast alike, and mystics versed in the secret lore of night." They're closer to Solars in raw power level, especially because when stunting, their Excellencies go from using a single attribute to two attributes as their limit. Or will, when the book gets done - that much was known even from the core, and remains true. The barbarian bit, less so. Lunars can shapeshift into various human and animal forms indefinitely, and being in animal form lets them use an animal's dicepools and special traits, but not their latent or magical abilities barring Charms. Again, still broadly true. Spotting a shapeshiofted Lunar is a very difficult roll to see through disguise, and you can't even try it unless you are aware of the Lunar's unique Tell. This, also called the Mark of Luna, is a feature of the Lunar's human form that is somehow mystical or bestial, such as a musky smell, wolf eyes, fangs or silver hair, which appears in any form they take, no matter what, although it may be diminished in other forms. Sidereals are the most limited by their Excellencies - they can only add dice based on their Essence. However, unlike everoyne else, they can reduce their roll TNs to make successes significantly more likely Also, they have an easier time raising static values. Sidereals also suffer from Arcane Fate Essentially, after a Sidereal has left, everyone starts to forget they ever existed at all. It is possible for them to use certain astrological magics to disguise themselves in false destinies made from stock archetypes, to appear as things like 'that handsome soldier' or 'the friendly town drunk,' and these figures can be remembered - it's the Sidereal's true self and nature that isn't. Abyssals are death-flavored Solars and have death-flavored Solar-level power. When in Creation, we are told, they take a significant penalty to any actions taken under the light of day, unless they wear the "morbid trappings of death" or use dark magic to avoid such penalties. And this is why all Abyssals dress really gothy, using funerary wear, ceremonial funeral gear or armor decoared with bones, spiders and other morbid stuff. They get even fewer details than the other QC Exalts. Liminals seach for identity and hunt the undead. Their bodies are patchwork, made from corpses, and...and they're Prometheans. They have somewhat limited use of Excellencies, but gain more out of them when their anima banner is shining bright enough to reveal their horrific, corpse-like nature. Their bodies are able to recover from crippling wound easier than other Exalts - they just have to find a suitable corpse to harvest a limb from and graft it on. Even death is something they can recover from, as their bodies reignite with Essence and rise again in a few days, though it may take them days or weeks to repair the damage. The only way to kill them for sure is to either drown them or destroy their brains, which even most Liminals don't know. Exigents are all unique. The one we get presented is Revana Quin, Architect of Wu-Jian, Chosen of the city father of Wu-Jian, a massive Western city full of crime. She was the daughter of a smuggler and pirate, and she inherited her mother's cunning and bravado, but with greater perspective. This is what drew the city's god to her, seeking a champion that could protect it from outsiders and internal collapse. She accepted the offer, and in that instant, she was given a vision of the heavenly city Yu-Shan. Now, she does her best to keep the peace in Wu-Jian. She's about on par with a Terrestrial Exalt most of the time, but can increase her power by using the environment to her benefit inside a city. She can make her fists as hard as brick and wield random objects as if they were artifact weapons, draw defensive power from city architecture, make herself more attractive and seductive, or read the intentions of people by observing their homes and hangouts. She can also easily disguise herself in a crowd, open any door in a city she communes with or detect crimes and evil plans by studying urban environments. Next time: Animals
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Apr 9, 2019 21:41
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PurpleXVI posted:I know I keep harping on it, but it still annoys me when Solars start invading the other splats' turf in terms of ability thematics. Is it fluff as actual shapeshifting or just as illusions? Because if it's actual shapeshifting, goddammit guys, get a loving proper thematic for Solars and stop stealing from the Lunars and Sidereals. LatwPIAT posted:Honestly, I like it. Yes, it encourages eugenics but central to encouraging eugenics is that the social measures necessary to run a eugenics programme are horrid. The Realm is an oppressive hegemonic empire that engages in large-scale social engineering programmes to create more soldiers. And that's bad - and we can recognize that it's bad. What it tells us about eugenics is that even taking for granted that eugenics produces the results you want, the costs are horrible and it should be self-evident why selective breeding of humans is evil, actually - and the only reason to do it in the first place is to be a hegemonic empire. e: Like, nothing will ever be perfect, especially since nerds are perverse and contrarian and love to argue pedantically on the internet. But efforts should be made, rather than "well, it's self evident that Lord Doomsexy is going to be bad for everyone, because he wants to convert the Four Lands into a skull-based economy and "double kill" everybody -- it simply went without saying! obvious really... now please buy more copies of Lord Doomsexy's Tragic Border Incident: The Fall of Elfland" Nessus fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 00:23
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 Neotech 2 Part 11-1: Hong Kong shooting. quote:“There are no innocent victims.” With the core ranged combat rules we move onto the optional ones and hoo boy are there many of them and cover a lot of bases for all your Realism needs. My personal suggestion would be to ignore most if not all of them. Our first two rules are additions to the range table, Very short distance and Extremely far distance. For the first one it’s the weapons short range value but divided by 2 but never shorter than 3 meters. Single shots are done at Ob2D6, bursts on the other hand its Ob2D6-2+Recoil. Whenever you shoot with automatic fire the difficulty remains the same but you’ll hit on 1’s, 2’s and 3’s. If you however decide to try to shoot at extreme rangers the difficulty will at all times be Ob6D6 and can’t be lowered underneath Ob5D6. But if you have sniper ammunition available, then the difficulty can go as far down as Ob3D6. But this naturally assume you have the relevant weapons and optics for the job. Also at this distance the damage decreases by Ob1D6. Everyone knows that the coolest thing you can do is shoot with two pistols at the same time. Even the Neotech writers knows this and have thusly added an optional rule for this called “Hong Kong shooting.” It’s still a bit of a convoluted mess though as you’re only allowed to fire potshots or automatic fire with both weapons. You do this by adding all the EI and recoil values together and only roll one difficulty check against pistol to hit. You know what’s great? Lots and lots of bullets. It’s a shame that the optional rule for this is also a bit of a mess. Because of the amount of dice that might actually be involved with such a weapon you can decide to forego the dice roll and instead count a hit for each six points of MEI. So a MEI value between 36-41 would mean 6 automatic hits for example. The relevant table is called “Disgustingly many bullets”. Being surprised is optional in Neotech. At least in combat it is. If someone gets the drop on a character then their initiative is modified for the first round by a tenth of their normal value. If they succeed against a Ob4D6 Combat Experience check that means it’s only a fifth of their normal value. For some reason they had to point out that this check does not count as an action. If the effect value of the attack is equal to the skill ranks the hit can be counted as a glancing one. This means that the damage value and penetration value is halved. Aiming for a specific body part is either a +Ob1D6 or +Ob2D6 difficulty increase depending on where you’re aiming. This can be combined with the normal aiming action as well. It’s also possible to aim for other things that aren’t bodypart so if you really want to shoot out a security camera you’ll have to use this rule. This feels like an odd thing to make an optional rule when it could easily been included in the aiming rules that showed up in the basic combat section. But what is perhaps a better option to make an optional rule is what happens when you miss your aimed shot. Because then there is still a chance that you’ll hit an adjacent area. If the effect of a roll ends up as a -1 or -2 that means you’ll hit nearby. This only really works because Neotech has broken down their hit table into several different hit locations. So if you aim for the hand and get -1 or -2 then that means you’ve hit the arm instead. Even if it then goes on to say that hits on the hand is still possible if you then manage to roll it on the table. So yeah. Before each round you have the option to decide on what kind of combat style you want to adopt. The choices here are limited to defensive, normal and aggressive so sadly nothing stylish here. If you decide to go on the defensive that means that all attacks done to them +Ob1D6 harder as you try your utmost to stay safe, but on the flipside it also means that your actions are also done at a level harder. Normal is normal, no modifications. Aggressive means only that your initiative is increased by +10 but you’re only allowed to use the “Shoot back” and “Defend yourself” responsive actions as you’re focused on doing as much damage as possible. If you consider the rule for Hong Kong shooting to be unsuitable for your grim and gritty game there is an alternate optional rule for two weapons. But all it boils down to is that any action done with your offhand is done at one level higher and shooting with both weapons count as separate actions. How you hold your weapon while shooting is also important, so there’s an optional rule dealing with how that affects the weapon recoil. In the end it’s just another table you need to look at and determine what the results are. For instance shooting one handed with an SMG or automatic pistol is Recoil x2. While doing the same with a rifle is Recoil+1 x2. If you want to play Rambo and one hand a machine gun while firing fully automatic it’s Recoil+1 x3. Screaming is optional. Of course this game has rules for dealing with low light conditions, or at least extreme low light conditions and darkness to be precise. No penalties will be incurred during hazy or evenings. But once you start involving smoke grenades, fog or lack of moonlight then things start getting complicated. Even if it’s usually a Ob1D6 to Ob4D6 addition to the relevant roll. It mentions that some types of weapon sights might adjust these but no real mention about night vision goggles or the like in this so maybe that’s not a thing that exists here. Which I doubt since this game is very heavy on the gear porn. But ultimately it’s up to the GM to decide what kind of penalties might be relevant in these situations. So why waste space on detailing it when it ultimately boils down to a GM decision? Feels like the writers could’ve summarized it a lot better or just pointed towards the table in a couple of sentences. That becomes even more readily apparent when it starts talking about situations where it’s pitch black or filled with smoke. Whatever penalties involve here is also up to the GM. If you do use a weapon, which the book recommends you not to really bother with, then any checks using automatic weapons is done at a difficulty higher. Then it also mentions that you should check the errant bullets rules and gives the page number of it. The thing is though that those rules are right after the low lighting conditions on the very same page so weird oversight there. But the mechanical effects of an errant bullet is that you first need to establish a fire zone and the rate of fire is dependant on the weapon. If there aren’t any targets then it doesn’t matter. If there are then it’s resolved as per the automatic fire rules. I can’t imagine ever trying to play a Neotech campaign without at least a rudimentary maps and some tokens with rules like these. If you get shot in the head there is a chance that you might drop whatever you’re holding. Although I think that’s the least of your worries in that case. The same goes if you get shot in the arm. If you get an extra wound, it’s not explained what that is for another 5 chapters, in your arm or on your head then you need to roll a normal difficulty check against STY+TÅL/2 to not drop whatever you’re holding on to. The same goes if you’re holding onto something like a rope or an opponent. In another weird design decision these are rules listed separately despite doing the exactly the same thing. Then there are rules for kneeling and prone stances, there is a table showing what difficulty modifies those do to some actions. Switching stances is another separate rule for some reason. It also gets its own table. We’re up to N2-103 by this point if you’re wondering. But if you want to start stance dancing you have to roll against RÖR unless you want to spend your whole turn changing. If you fail the roll that means you can’t change position. Not sure how that is really supposed to work since I’m not sure you can fail kneeling quickly. Failing to go from standing to prone makes sense however, and if you fail the roll doing that means that while you still go prone you get Ob1D6-4 damage marks from the bad landing. If you fumble any of the stance rolls that means you have to use the fumble table for melee combat. Going from standing to kneeling and so on counts as an active action and also counts as moving. Suddenly we get a rule about wanting to shooting two handed weapons in one hand, but it feels like that was already brought up before with the rule for how to grip your weapon. All it really entails is that single shots are made at a level higher. Short, possibly unnecessary and rather misplaced too this feels like nothing but a filler rule. Another slight filler entry is the rule about target sizes. A lot of these rules I’m starting to realize are just “Here is table showing difficulty ranks of things but it’s really up to the GM to decide what it is”. Feels like some of these would have been better off just been summed up with a “Look at the difficulty table and judge accordingly” or similar rather than spending page space. Remember the exhaustion rules? They’re back again but it’s partially just a refresher on how they work outside of a table listing how much exhaustion points each action costs. Once again the book spends multiple paragraphs explaining it works while I more or less managed to sum it up in a sentence. Our last optional rule is firearm malfunctions. This is where things might just get peak convoluted. The book almost seems to lament the fact that this system is a simplification. How nice of them. With this rule in effect all difficulty rolls when using firearms has to be rolled with a differently coloured Ob dice. This is the malfunction dice, but it also counts as a regular dice for skill checks. Any Ob rolls with this dice also needs to be rolled with a differently coloured dice, so hope you remembered to bring some of those. These dice also count into the check but obviously also increases the chance for malfunctions. If you remember way back in the second part we talked about the basic rules you might have remembered the abbreviation EAB, which stands for firearm malfunction. All weapons has an EAB value, usually between 6 to 14 where 6 is bad quality and 14 means top quality. The way it works is that if the malfunction dice results exceeds the weapons EAB value then the weapon has malfunctioned. Then you need to roll 1D100 on the N2-106 table to see what happens. Weapon malfunctions obviously mean that the shot has missed and its fully possible to both get a weapon malfunction and fumble with the same action. Oh lovely. Some weapons ignore certain types of malfunctions. The chart has the usual malfunctions such as duds, hang ups, mechanical failures. All of the entries also come with what you need to roll to clear the malfunction. If you roll 100 however that means that weapon explodes and you take Ob1D6 explosive damage on the affected body parts. Oddly enough it says the face should only be affected if the weapon was a bullpup model. I would’ve figured that a weapon exploding in close proximity of you is a bad thing over all. The weapon is also destroyed but that’s honestly the least of your problem in that case. So my point still stands as before, you’re better off ignoring almost all of the optional firefight rules. I would’ve wanted the automatic weapons rule to be an optional one because that one something that will big down combat sessions something fierce. Another issue is that a lot of these rule are, as I ranted before, not that necessary because they’re mostly just slight adaptations of the standard difficulty chart. As if the writers wanted to explicitly tell the players that things are supposed to be done in a particular fashion but then sorta handwave it away as well with leaving a lot of it up to the GM. It feels like that could have been handled in a much better fashion with a lot more general tips on how to do things for combat rather than just listing page after page of rules. Next time: Try to remember some of the basics of CQC.
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Apr 10, 2019 00:24
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The thing about "winning forum arguments" is that it isn't just about winning forum arguments; it's about encouraging the people who really, really want to make Terrestrial breeding camps to find another fandom far, far away.
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Apr 10, 2019 00:50
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Having run across it when going through my files recently, I was reminded that there was an Exalted soundtrack produced with 3e I got as a part of the Kickstarter, with themes for what the original designers saw as the "core types" (Solars, Dragon-Blooded, Lunars, Sidereals, Exigents, Liminals, Getimians, and Alchemicals). It's my James Semple, who's done a lot of work doing soundtracks for Pelgrane Press' games. So, yes, you may not have rules for Getimians, you have not have more than a hint of what they do, but by the Sun, they have a theme.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:21
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Nessus posted:especially since nerds are perverse Having watched the Chapo boys' Felix play DnD on a lark, along with his friends, I think people in general getting loving weird at the table when you ask them to go to imagination land. Their DM invented rules for sex because his personal group learned how to turn into animals and loving other animals, and Felix's group tried to get laid right away NutritiousSnack fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 02:46
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NutritiousSnack posted:Having watched the Chapo boys' Felix play DnD on a lark, along with his friends, I think people in general getting loving weird at the table when you ask them to go to imagination land. Their DM invented rules for sex because his personal group learned turning into animals and loving other animals, and that group tried to get laid right away
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Apr 10, 2019 02:56
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Nessus posted:In this case I was referring to the tendency of people to argue contrarian viewpoints and alternate readings that let them turn anything into a paean to whatever the hell they want, when I said perverse; but thank you for sharing, I guess I think Chapo Trap House is one of the bigger humor podcasts out there man, you were taking about breeding camps which is about as MAGICAL REALM as you can get. EDIT: Actually I'm going to get more mean, but to the point. Nerd Gatekeeping has actually been dead for a decade in most parts of fandom, and even now with DnD and tabletop for awhile. The biggest games and fan communities, infested with 'normies', are as bad as 4chan troll pits. I don't know how many times I've played Fortnite and Overwatch and had women call people retarded or even drop the N bomb and had to hit mute. DCUA fanboys likewise are less Redditors but fuckers who hang out at Hot Topic, and boy do they want to tell you their opinion on women, especially in the Superhero genre. The problem isn't nerds specifically, that would be BO and how they present the hobby when it comes to visual nature of the userbase, it's going to be how the material communicates it's themes and not wander over to Nazi land, and how it curates it's fanbase. NutritiousSnack fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 03:02
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I'd argue it's somehow more unpleasant when nerds start doing horrible poo poo like that, not because it's getting them off, but because they find a certain joy in arguing the 'logical' solution to a problem is something morally atrocious. The kind of perverse Nessus was discussing, in fact. I personally think part of it is the sense that, if they can't think of something else that other people would not think of or would refuse to implement, how can they feel smarter and more clear-eyed than other people? So that particular nerd problem solving process favors the bizarre, the counterintuitive, and the outrageous. "I'm just doing what's optimal in the setting" is a common excuse for doing things that make everyone else uncomfortable. It would be less awful if it were just 'at my table, we all go to the Magical Realm' because at least that's honest.
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Apr 10, 2019 03:10
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There is a general tendency to believe that something forbidden must be efficacious. When you know, a lot of times something is forbidden because it's loving stupid, as well as monstrous.
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Apr 10, 2019 03:16
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NutritiousSnack posted:I think Chapo Trap House is one of the bigger humor podcasts out there man, you were taking about breeding camps which is about as MAGICAL REALM as you can get. My dude I have seen nerd gatekeeping yesterday if you think it's dead you're part of the loving problem
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Apr 10, 2019 04:00
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MollyMetroid posted:My dude I have seen nerd gatekeeping yesterday if you think it's dead you're part of the loving problem I think what this guy is failing to get is that 'nerd gatekeeping' never, or barely ever, tried to keep any straight, white (etc) dudes out. If anything I've only seen nerds overjoyed to see quote-unquote 'jocks' and 'normies' enter the hobbies they care about. It's only when people who bring new perspectives or are critical enter nerd spaces that gatekeeping happens, and it does indeed happen, as you say. "Nerd gatekeeping" was always punching down. "Normies" aren't a useful category.
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Apr 10, 2019 04:05
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MollyMetroid posted:My dude I have seen nerd gatekeeping yesterday if you think it's dead you're part of the loving problem Three of those four sentences are about how I have to turn off my mic because of racist abuse when playing something Overwatch, I'm not taking about : Joe Slowboat posted:I think what this guy is failing to get is that 'nerd gatekeeping' never, or barely ever, tried to keep any straight, white (etc) dudes out. If anything I've only seen nerds overjoyed to see quote-unquote 'jocks' and 'normies' enter the hobbies they care about. I'm coming at this from a Market Force, perspective, not Harassment in the Industry, one and overall Cultural Mainstream one. Racism isn't the sole province of unwashed nerds or even mainly, Racism is mainstream, most young white people voted for him. General Weird Sex poo poo is universal from men and women in this industry given Senran Kagura audience is half women. I cop to using the actual wrong word here and not just hand waving off the idea that this is a nerd people problem, or using a 'loaded' word again. I'm just utterly skeptical bad political opinions, especially weird sex poo poo, are ever going to leave games, especially as it becomes more mainstream to a more affluent audience who can waste 3 hours on a game. NutritiousSnack fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 06:54
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Cults: Scourgers, pt. 3 Degenesis Rebirth Primal Punk Chapter 3: Cults  Unto Death If you want to be Scourger, you have to get note from your mom: basically, they won't let you join if your mother doesn't hand you over. A 12-year-old (possibly a girl, but the book is talking about males all the time) has to prove himself to the Scourgers to join. In Gibraltar, he has to chase down a slave. In Tripol, he's We’re also ignoring the bit where the youth has to raid a ruin for helmet and armor. Maybe that’s some other rite of passage. After the trial, the prospect is introduced as Scourger to his village. The community will care for him between the ages of 18 and 28. Young Scourgers don't marry, either. quote:These adolescents and adults may not marry: their deaths would cause existential problems for their partners. Of course, this does not stop them from having purely sexual relationships Heck yeah, you can be a cool warrior that orders Neolibyan nerds around and fuuucks, how cool is that!  Once a Scourger reaches 28, they pass rite where “they swear to use their heads more and their fists less,” essentially becoming officers. They can marry, but Neolibyans don't have to provide for their families. With Scourgers being banned from work, they make-do selling slaves. If Scourger reaches 50, they get to be a village elder or a shaman. quote:Not many reach the age of 45. RANKS SCOURGERS 1. Dufu quote:He killed an animal or vanquished a slave to be considered a warrior. He barely survived, though. His comrades laugh at him, pushing him around, calling him Dufu, which means “fart”. They keep getting more provocative until he finally loses it. With a burning face and a deep frown he attacks his comrades, hitting and bludgeoning them. To no avail. They block his blows, duck, or utter an exaggerated, shrill “Ow!” should he hit them. When he stands there panting at the end of the lesson, with heavy arms and full of shame, he has learned that he is nothing. The entrance test, this first challenge? A fart. So yeah, your path to Scourger-dom begins with getting massively owned. But then you get to go on dangerous assignments (like scouting or playing bait) and fight on the frontline with spear and shield! Maybe you'll survive and earn a new rank that allows you to use firearms. What is this, Caesar’s Legion? 2a. Hondo If a Dufu proves himself in melee, he can rank-up to become a Hondo, an ancestral warrior. quote:He demands an assault rifle from the Neolibyan and gets one. Then, he makes it a part of his rites, treats it as a friend, garners its favor. When he looks the slaves or his enemies in the eyes, he knows that Scourgers like himself are responsible for the Cult’s reputation of being implacable and deadly. Big words for a rank-2 character. On the other hand, Scourgers might turn out to be the Warriors of the setting, since they're hyper-focused on battle.  Not gonna lie, I loving love this one. 3a. Chaga Be a warrior long enough and you might become a Chaga, a leader that's also answerable to the ancestors. The Dumisai are the only people who can question him, and the discussion then turns into a fight (Africans had discovered that debates were bullshit shortly before the Eschaton and it’s one of the Bygone things that survived). Chaga is a leader on the battlefield, the tip of the spear, executing whatever plan the Damu comes up with. He can only rise in rank if the Dumisai challenges him (the Chaga) and gets beat up. The Chaga then takes the new position and choses a Hondo to become the new Chaga. The book likes to use the work “pack” when discussing Scourger formations, even though lions gather into prides. Apply own interpretation here. 2b. Damu Damu is the brain-nerd warrior as opposed to Hondo's hands-on approach to fighting. He discovers the weak-spots of the enemy, devises plans of attack and the deployment of Dufus(es). 3b. Simba Damus, being the strategy brain nerds of the group, naturally advance to be Simbas, the “lions of the pack” and the champions of the group. All that strategy-making and weak-spot noticing? All in service of challenging the enemy champions to duels. Eventually, the You'd think the progression would make more sense if you switched Chaga and Simba on the track... 4. Dumisai You're the Emperor's Champion now, boy! Dumisai are the supreme lore keepers and are nearly unquestionable, even if they're not actual leaders. They exert influence by challenging Chagas to duels – Dumisai can't be challenged themselves. O. Moyo OK, this goes stupid, fast. quote:One day, the Chaga will go to his Dumisai, sit opposite to him on a rock at some distance from the pack, and tell him that it is time to select his Moyo, his soul mate. The Dumisai selects a Hondo or Damu he feels close to and whom he considers worthy. Together, they perform the ritual of union. They are now one, their souls have joined.What happens to one also happens to the other. The Moyo gives his mask to Dumisai and sets out to do eight heroic tasks that were laid out to him to protect his Dumisai's honor. He has two months to do it, and no Scourger may help him, lest they anger the ancestors, yadda yadda. What happens if he succeeds? quote:If he manages this, the Dumisai keeps his position. The Moyo gets his mask back and is a Hondo or Damu again. loving nothing. The whole thing about spiritual bonding, become one, and stuff? Pointless. It's all just a way for Chaga to spite a Dumisai and maybe get some underling killed in the process. X. Kifo What happens if a Moyo fails? Well, they (and the Dumisai that chose them) become Kifos, the maskless ones. They're kicked out of the Scourger society, they are expected to come back as evil spirits after their death, and they have to learn to fend for themselves. Some Kifu work as mercs for Neolibyans or the Cults. Others get (rightfully) pissed off and switch sides to join the Hybris or Voivodes. Turns out that casting out a living legend of the group (and some hapless Hondo) isn't the best course of action! Next time: Scourgers say the darnest things!
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Apr 10, 2019 09:13
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 The Rifter 9½, part 9: "The Humor Factor is similar to Horror Factor or Awe Factor, except it's funny." The Ludicrous Mage O.C.C. (13%) was created by Daniel Denis ("with additional text by  "They never studies or uses Card Magic." So, they get a Humor Factor, which is more or less like Horror Factor but ha has. They also have a Monologue ability that can be used to distract crowds, but a failed roll (which is likely, with a starting skill of 35%-50%) can cause hecklers, rioting, or a lynch mob. Yes, the funny comedy stylings of a mob lynching are finally here. They can do a Unnerving Laugh that cripples people who fail their "save vs. temporary insanity" nearby. They get stuff like Make Balloon Animals and Monsters or Clowning as unique but mundane skills, because what you really, really, really need in a game is a % telling you whether or not you successfully made a balloon cat. "You fail to impress the child. She does not let you inside the treehouse. All is lost." They can get Wizard Spells (levels 1-3) and all Ludicrous Spells. While not as hard to qualify for as Trickster Mages, not many will get to be the most magical of clowns.  The most half-hearted sound effect. Ludicrous Magic is exclusive to them because "other magic practitioners refuse to acknowledge this form of magic as anything but a waste of time". And if you aren't funny, don't worry, Cloud of Laughter, Funny Bone, Uncontrollable Laughter, Blissful Confusion, Enhance Humor Factor, Laughter of Weakness, and Curse of Laughter has you covered and covered and covered and covered and covered... and covered. Transformation enthusiasts will enjoy: Alter Physical Features, Alter Physical Color, Animal Characteristics (physical), Red Nose, Feeble Voice, Potato Head, Shrink Body Parts, Blubber Boy, Metamorphosis: Doll/Puppet, Metamorphosis: Opposite Sex- The Rifter 9½ posted:If the character was a male: He will lose 20% of his original weight and S.D.C., but enjoys the following bonuses: +3 P.B., +1 I.Q., +2 P.E., and +1 P.P. His physical appearance will not resemble a female version of himself (including genitalia). The Rifter 9½ posted:Limitations: This spell does not affect creatures with no gender, or asexual beings. The Rifter 9½ posted:Note: Those who get their gender change CAN NOT impregnate another nor can they get impregnated. Nor are males likely to find men attractive, or females find ladies attractive, unless they were predisposed to such in the first place. - Metamorphosis: Pig/Boar, Metamorphosis: Clown, and Metamorphosis: Toad/Frog. Bondage aficionados will appreciate that you get no saving throw against Tied with Rope or Tied with Chains. And, of course, don't forget to break the action economy with Animate Balloon Monster, Animate Clothing, Clacking Teeth, Multiplicity, Create Clown Golem, or even the "Spell of Legend"... Create Carnies. Create Carnies is... well, easily the worst part of this issue. Granted, most of what you can summon is inoffensive, "Animal Tamers", monstrous "Krazy Klowns", "Jack in the Box", "Muscle Man", but then... The Rifter 9½ posted:Idiot The Rifter 9½ posted:Size: 7 feet tall (2m) and slim. Okay, you can summon a mega-damage Gomer / Goofy / Eccles, I'm not sure why you want to but it's an option- The Rifter 9½ posted:Combat: Two attacks per melee round, but only attack when when attacked, threatened, or called a moron, retard, or geek. The Rifter 9½ posted:Bonuses: .... Can drink an unlimited amount of alcohol and not suffer any obvious penalties.  The Rifter 9½ posted:The Fat Lady Every part of this is terrible. The Rifter 9½ posted:Size: 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and about 5 feet (1.5 m) wide. ("You're not fat! You're just a whole lot of woman.") The Rifter 9½ posted:Roll attack: Can roll up to a speed of 40, but must stop after 4D6 minutes or it will get too dizzy and become sick. The Rifter 9½ posted:Note: When the Fat Lady is killed (Damage Capacity reduced to zero or less), she begins to sing, and then vanishes. What the actual gently caress. Yes, it's just a magical creation that doesn't seem to be properly alive, but having it referred to as "this thing", "this monstrosity", or "it" feels telling and gross. I don't even have it in me to ... ugh.  Night of the Dread Laundry. In case you haven't guessed, Ludicrous Magic is actually pretty useful, unlike Trickster Magic. Though it's not as broadly useful as regular spell magic, it's profoundly good at save-or-suck effects, and no real attempt seems to have really been given to rein it in. Pies lets you create a variety of minor effects, but has a Nuclear Bomb Pie that does nearly Glitter Boy damage and can be stocked for future use. Moron I.Q. makes you have an I.Q. of 3 on a failed save, removes all skill bonuses (including level) and reduces you to the basic percentage minus 20%, and removes all combat bonuses and bonus attacks. Of course, that's all beside the notion of spells that "goose" people or cover them in "fake" pee... It seems like it'd be fun to play if you scrape off all the thoughtlessly offensive poo poo, but drat did Denis and Siembieda fall down hard on some of this nonsense. Even for 2000, even for the insular world of gaming, there's just some casually cruel ignorance tucked away in this magic section.  The spell pictured only does water, thankfully. Next: "Only applicable to hot mamas..." Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 09:46
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NutritiousSnack posted:Having watched the Chapo boys' Felix play DnD on a lark, along with his friends, I think people in general getting loving weird at the table when you ask them to go to imagination land. Their DM invented rules for sex because his personal group learned how to turn into animals and loving other animals, and Felix's group tried to get laid right away
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Apr 10, 2019 14:33
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Exalted 3rd Edition: The Secret Power of Bears Animals are not actually harmless in this edition – at least, some of them. They have a number of special attacks and abilities, plus more on top of that which can be unlocked by training, to make having familiars worthwhile. Non-magical traits unlocked by training are called Latent Abilities. You need Survival 3, a Specialty in animal husbandry and another Specialty specific to the animal to unlock an animal’s Latent Abilities, and doing so is an extended Survival roll over several months, during which you must interact with the animal daily. Charms can also unlock Magical Abilities, which are called forth only in familiars – even Lunars don’t get them when they become an animal that has them, that’s your special familiar mojo. Common Latent Abilities, which apply to many animals, are not listed in animal statblocks. Rather, they can be assumed to be on any animal that fits their criteria. Alighting Hunter’s Ascent: Any flying animal small enough to perch on a shoulder or gloved hand. They get +1 success to Join Battle when beginning combat with their master, and reflexively rise to Medium range from the ground when they Join Battle. Crushing Embrace: Any large predator that relies on clinching. They can make a Decisive savaging attack while grappling once per scene that does extra damage, ignores Hardness and doesn’t reset their Initiative. Fling Aside: Any large predator that relies on grappling. They can make smashing attacks with their claws or similar natural weapons and may throw grappled enemies out to Short range. Gambits: Any animal. Animals can be trained to Disarm, Distract or Unhorse, though each gambit requires separate training. Once per scene, they can spend Willpower to double 10s on the Initiative roll for the gambit and pay no Initiative cost if it succeeds. Peck Out the Eyes: Any bird of prey or large ground bird. They can forgo one level of damage on a Decisive attack to blind the foe for the scene – or permanently, for trivial foes. Predator’s Menace: Any animal with an Intimidate dicepool. Once per scene, they can cause anyone they Intimidate to lose Initiative, even if they spend Willpower to resist the intimidation. Tighten Clutches: Any animal that relies on clinching. They can spend 1 Willpower to avoid losing rounds of control when attacked while grappling for one round, though they still lose rounds of control from being damaged. Wing-Rushing Strike: Any flying predator. They can add extra successes on a Rush that brings them into Close range of a foe to the raw damage of their first Withering attack on that foe after the Rush. As for common Magical Abilities – note, costs are paid by the familiar’s master: Devouring Leviathan Maw (10m): Any gigantic megafauna or apex predators. They can make a Decisive bite unblockable and double 10s on damage, and also force a Crippling injury if they do enough damage or else the target is swallowed whole and dies. Earth-Shaking Behemoth (4m): Any animal with a stomp attack or similar. They can make a shockwave with a Decisive attack, forcing anyone in Medium range to have to make an Athletics roll or become prone. Invincible God-Beast Hide (12m): Any animal with great endurance or an armored body. They can reduce Decisive attack damage based on their soak, and gain Initiative if they are unhurt after. Legendary Titan Prana (7m): Any huge animal. They get +3 Strength and double 8s for purposes of feats of strength to smash through stuff. Primeval Vitality Lifeblood: Any resilient or hardy animal. They get the benefits of the Solar Charm Immunity to Everything Technique, except they can’t resist incurable diseases. Midnight Claw Prana (3m): Any stealthy hunter. They can double 10s on damage of a Decisive surprise attack, and the master can transfer Initiative to the animal before it attacks. Raging Devil-Beast Empowerment (5m): Any strong or powerful predator. They get double 9s for feats of strength and initiating grapples for the scene, and may grapple creatures with Legendary Size. Throat-Ripping Execution (3m): Any predator that relies on clinching. They can add their rounds of control to the damage of a Decisive savaging attack and ignore Hardness with it once per scene, reset by Crashing a grappled foe. Unerring God-Hound Scent (5m): Any animal with the Keen Nose merit. They get 3 successes on 10s for a Perception-based roll and reroll 1s out until they stop appearing, and may oppose even perfect track-covering magic. Specific animals! Angler-Lizards are twenty-foot long lizards, about half of which is neck. They’re found along the rivers of the East and the shores of the West, using their long necks to hunt fish and other swimming things, steadied by strong hind legs and large butts. Their butt meat is a particular delicacy of the Serpoletic merchants and Vanehan princes. While they appear frightening, they are meek creatures, sometimes domesticated by islander or riverside peoples to help hunt fish. They’re not especially tough, but they are able to shed their tail to distract predators and withdraw from battle faster; it takes around a season to regrow, without magic. They are also able to make bites and grapples out to Short range, due to their long necks, which they mostly use to drag prey onto land. They are able to see clearly into water from the shore and can be trained as lookouts against underwater foes, screeching an agitated warning when they spot such dangers. Armored Terrors are gigantic fish found through the West and even in the waters around the Blessed Isle. They can be over 30 feet long and four tons in weight, and while they primarily hunt smaller coastal fish, they’re plenty dangerous to fishing boats and shoreline peoples. Their scales are thicker than even steel armor, and their bony, beaklike fangs are strong enough to sever limbs easily. They are extremely tough, ferocious predators that will only flee when facing larger foes like a siaka or giant squid. Their Withering bites ignore a chunk of armor due to their ability to tear through shells and steel, and they are able to cause a brief whirlpool by snapping their mouth open quickly, drawing in foes. They can be trained to ram ships, as well, allowing them to tear through hulls with the same power as the Charm Sledgehammer Fist Attack, and familiars can learn the ability to cancel out non-permanent enemy Charms and other magic that grants soak or damage resistance, as long as they can do enough damage. Their armored skin is very strong, they have Legendary Size, and familiars can gain the magical ability to strengthen their bony shells significantly at the cost of their Initiative. (Yes, it is a giant coelacanth, and it is one of the scariest fish.) Bears can be found just about anywhere – grizzlies in the East, white bears in the North and Northwest, even the Blessed Isle (though they tend to be smaller and sometimes hunted for sport by Dynasts). Even small bears are dangerous, and they are more than happy to grab and crush foes in a bone-breaking embrace while tearing at them with deadly fangs. Bears can forgo Initiative gain on a good enough Withering attack with their claws to reflexively grapple foes for free, and can do extra damage when using their bite to make Decisive savaging attacks while grappling. A bear can be trained to also use its terrifying bite against any Crashed foe, rather than just the ones it grapples. Bears are fairly tough, though if they take enough damage, they’ll flee unless protecting their young. They get their wound penalties as bonuses to attacks, and when using Defend Other on their young, they get bonuses, which they can be trained to also get when defending their master. They also have a keen nose, making them good at scent-based Perception rolls. Benthic Knifetooths are immense, 20-foot-long serpentine sharks that eat…well, just about anything. Their name is due to their unique teeth, each of which has a number of recurved hooks that snag in the flesh of their prey to prevent escape. Knifetooths hunt by night, and sailors are usually terrified of their large, distinctive gill-frills, which can be seen as they swim alongside ships. They mostly dwell in the deep Western oceans, but competition, curiosity or divine curses can lead them up to the surface to attack ships. They are very tough, but doing enough damage will send them fleeing. Due to their special teeth, they, like bears, can forgo Initiative on a Withering bite attack to reflexively grapple foes. They tend to swim around with their mouths open, camouflaging their teeth against their mouth flesh to fool prey into attacking them first, allowing them to clash the first attack a foe makes against them with a terrifying bite. They are very hard to notice when in the deeps of the waters below you, making them significantly stealthier than a giant eel-shark should be, and can see clearly in darkness. They also do not truly sleep, instead entering a sort of rest phase in which they remain conscious and mobile but can’t attack or do anything significant. Spending eight hours in this state is equivalent to a night’s sleep for them. Next time: Boar-Tusk Crocodiles, Bunyips, Cats, Claw Striders, Death Moas, Dogs, Eagles
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Apr 10, 2019 15:36
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Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2e: Lure of the Liche Lord Kinging I belabor this point a bit, I know, but in going through the Tomb it's been fascinating to me how differently the two versions of the canon party do. Team 1 just cannot handle this place, because they've got poo poo equipment and they're balanced on 'number of careers' rather than 'amount of EXP'. Team 2 found the dungeon to be challenging and difficult, but doable. The dungeon actually does balance fine for 'characters who have just entered their third career' if that means '3rd tier, due to having 5500-5700 EXP'. That said, there are a few things that stand out as kind of bullshit. For one, Tomb Guards. We first run into them during a weird trap where you step into the entrance hall and the whole room shakes a bunch, because the room actually rotated. There are four doors, and the correct answer is realizing the room rotated and trying to 'leave' the tomb. Otherwise, not only are all 3 other rooms trapped (one of them basically being a likely, since it hits you for 6 Damage 6 hits in a row with no save if you don't spot it and avoid triggering it) but each wrong room summons 2 Tomb Guards. Tomb Guards are weird. They're elite skeleton soldiers who have SB 4, TB 4, Strike Mighty, WS 36, 2 Attacks, 16 Wounds, and have a special rule where they trigger Fury like a PC and do it on a 9+. That's nuts! Nothing else in the series does that. I checked and double checked the core book, including an updated version with all errata: It still says Fury happens when a player rolls a 10. Suddenly, these guys do it too? This is the only reference I've found to enemies using the Fury rule. Anyway, if you use that rule for them they're individually meaner than Wights, and they come in numbers. You can fight up to 8 of them in this one room, and this is far from the last time these assholes show up. They did bad things to the lightly armored Team 1, and they're a serious threat to Team 2, even. Guys that hit as hard as Chaos Warriors (and if using their full rules, break the damage caps) with 2 attacks are nothing to be trifled with even if they have DR 5 instead of 9. Another weird thing about encounter design: Most encounters only have one kind of enemy. You'll just fight 2 Ushabti, or 5 Tomb Guard, or 12 Skeletons. Speaking of, even normal Skeletons were a threat to Team 1 with outnumbering and Fear. Team 2 just kind of bodied them. Depending on how ready you are for combat and how armored your team is, and how unlucky you get on Fear checks, the basic swarms of normal Undead can gently caress you up. Floor 1 also has two really notable encounters: It's all dedicated to Karitamen's great military victories, and so it contains his war chariot. That includes several dwarf prisoners reanimated and mummified and lashed to the chariot. They'll tell the PCs in Khazalid that Karitamen had their beards shaved after capturing them in battle (holy poo poo, guy! You don't do that to dwarfs!) but then repeat in a monotone that the Death Scarab awakens and will offer the PCs much for service. This can be their first hint that they don't necessarily need to fight Karitamen. Depending on how pissed off any dwarfs in your party are, though, you might be on track to kill the beard-shaver now. You also get bonus EXP for putting them to rest and honoring their loss and sorrow. Similar for several entombed proto-Imperial Taal and Rhya worshipers encountered in the trophy room. Showing respect for the dead actually usually gets you rewards during the adventure. The other really big encounter on Floor 1 is the Generals. Karitamen had many excellent Generals, because no great war leader does it all alone. He wanted them buried with him to honor them, but many of them had been seriously maimed when they died in battle. To amend that, they were all fitted with glorious, valuable prosthetic limbs that are wonders of engineering. They are also all wights! There are 12 of them, buried with plate armor and valuable goods, and if you open one of their sarcophagi the Wight inside gets up and goes at you. Every round until you flee or kill all 12, another Wight gets up. You can avoid this by not being a dick; if you don't open any sarcophagi, they don't try to kill you. Of course, if you're able to get in a good rhythm of putting down one a round, you can win this encounter; you'll piss off Karitamen an awful lot, but you can win. Also interesting is some of the Generals are women. Killing all of them gets you their jewelry (30 GC each), their armor and weapons, and their amazing treasure limbs, worth 1690 GC. This will continue to be a thing: If you go into this Tomb as a hostile Tomb Robber and steal poo poo, you will get huge, huge piles of money. By the end, I believe that taking everything you can and that doesn't death curse you can get a party upwards of 20,000 crowns. Enough to buy a business and retire in style. So if that's your playstyle, you will actually get what you want. Level 2 has a couple serious encounters: For one, if you don't avoid them, the first room jumps you with 12 of those Tomb Guard. Thankfully, avoiding them is just a matter of not getting to close to any as they stand guard over a throne monument, and you already know from level 1 that staying back from Tomb Guard usually keeps them from activating. Still, even Team 2 can't handle 12 of those bastards at once. This is also the first place where it starts to become really apparent there's a pattern to the worst traps. If you see, say, a sacred throne dedicated to Karitamen being great at Kinging, you don't want to try to walk up and sit in it. Many of the nastiest traps exist to stab you in the dick if you try to sit in Karitamen's chair, or otherwise violate Nehekaran etiquette. That's not hyperbole, either; one of the many trapped chairs will literally stab you in the dick. Level 2 is all about what a great King Karitamen was. Level 2 actually doesn't have a huge amount of treasure; it focuses on symbolic tributes to show that Karitamen was given gifts, tribute, and tax by a wide range of people at many times. It is also notably less full than the area dedicated to his victories as a warrior on Level 1, cluing the PCs in that he was a better general than a statesman. There's also a neat bit where you find a ton of clay figures of people from all over Nehekaran life; Kings wanted to be buried with servants, but recognized that killing hundreds of their own people would be stupid and wasteful. So instead, their Audience Chambers in their tombs are full of representations of the peoples they ruled over, who are thought to become servants in the afterlife. loving around with the statues obviously triggers traps, and why would you? Again, a lot of traps are there in case you're just being a dick and messing with the Tomb just to vandalize things. Next Time: Bird Head Guy: A Primer on Nehekaran Religion
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Apr 10, 2019 15:42
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Mors Rattus posted:Benthic Knifetooths are immense, 20-foot-long serpentine sharks that eat…well, just about anything. Their name is due to their unique teeth, each of which has a number of recurved hooks that snag in the flesh of their prey to prevent escape. Knifetooths hunt by night, and sailors are usually terrified of their large, distinctive gill-frills, which can be seen as they swim alongside ships. They mostly dwell in the deep Western oceans, but competition, curiosity or divine curses can lead them up to the surface to attack ships. They are very tough, but doing enough damage will send them fleeing. Due to their special teeth, they, like bears, can forgo Initiative on a Withering bite attack to reflexively grapple foes. They tend to swim around with their mouths open, camouflaging their teeth against their mouth flesh to fool prey into attacking them first, allowing them to clash the first attack a foe makes against them with a terrifying bite. They are very hard to notice when in the deeps of the waters below you, making them significantly stealthier than a giant eel-shark should be, and can see clearly in darkness. They also do not truly sleep, instead entering a sort of rest phase in which they remain conscious and mobile but can’t attack or do anything significant. Spending eight hours in this state is equivalent to a night’s sleep for them. Oh hey, it's a giant oarfish/viperfish hybrid.
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Apr 10, 2019 15:47
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Mors Rattus posted:Exalted 3rd Edition: The Secret Power of Bears quote:Armored Terrors are gigantic fish found through the West and even in the waters around the Blessed Isle. They can be over 30 feet long and four tons in weight, and while they primarily hunt smaller coastal fish, they’re plenty dangerous to fishing boats and shoreline peoples. Their scales are thicker than even steel armor, and their bony, beaklike fangs are strong enough to sever limbs easily. They are extremely tough, ferocious predators that will only flee when facing larger foes like a siaka or giant squid. Their Withering bites ignore a chunk of armor due to their ability to tear through shells and steel, and they are able to cause a brief whirlpool by snapping their mouth open quickly, drawing in foes. They can be trained to ram ships, as well, allowing them to tear through hulls with the same power as the Charm Sledgehammer Fist Attack, and familiars can learn the ability to cancel out non-permanent enemy Charms and other magic that grants soak or damage resistance, as long as they can do enough damage. Their armored skin is very strong, they have Legendary Size, and familiars can gain the magical ability to strengthen their bony shells significantly at the cost of their Initiative. (Yes, it is a giant coelacanth, and it is one of the scariest fish.)
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Apr 10, 2019 16:31
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Exalted has some excellent monster / animal / spirit designs. Lots of weird giant prehistoric animals and gods with actual personalities you can interact with.
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Apr 10, 2019 16:39
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Exalted 3rd Edition: Animal Planet Boar-Tusk Crocodiles resemble an aquatic crocodile, but they are strictly land-based, found in the plains of the South and Southeast. They are apex predators that will eat just about anything they can catch, including lions and claw striders. They get their name from three elongated fangs, which are able to bite through even the toughest scales or hide. They are often twenty feet long and weigh over a ton, and they are deceptively ungainly and stumpy, yet capable of sudden bursts of speed that catch others off guard, allowing the crocodiles to ram with their bony snouts. They are quite tough and won’t flee until very hurt. Their Withering bites ignore some armor, and they do extra Decisive damage to prone foes due to their specializing in ramming foes to the ground and then eating them. On any turn when they reach Close range of a foe, they can make a smashing attack without the usual costs of doing so, as well. They can be trained not to kill downed foes, instead spending Willpower to reflexively grapple people they knock down by climbing on top of them, slowly crushing them. They have exceptionally sharp sight, gaining a bonus to sight-based Perception rolls, and their jaws are very good at breaking stuff. Bunyips are giant marsupials found in the Eastern grasslands and Western islands. They’re like a rhinoceros, but with a bear’s snout and grinding teeth for digging up roots. The biggest are ten feet long and six tall, weighing up to three tons. They usually travel in family groups of females, children and one larger bull. Lesser males live on their own. Hunters target bunyips with projectiles to remain out of their reach, as their powerful skulls are very nasty weapons. Bunyip teeth are prized as hunting trophies and talismans of victory. A bunyip is exceptionally tough, but flees after taking a good bit of damage, and females will usually retreat the moment danger appears if they have young in their pouches. A bunyip that deals enough damage with a Decisive headbutt also knocks the target to Short range and sends them prone, which delays their action and can, if they are slow enough, cancel it entirely. This is especially dangerous if the bunyip Rushed in the same turn as the attack. Bunyips have a keen nose and get a bonus to scent-based Perception rolls, and anything hiding in their pouch, such as their babies, automatically benefits from their Defend Other, though it takes training to get them to let you into their pouch and they can only hold something about the size of a small, unencumbered person in there. Bunyips are exceptionally sturdy creatures, and so they cannot be knocked back or sent prone except by magic or creatures with Legendary Size, and cannot be thrown or slammed while grappled except with magic or if grappled by something of great size. Cats covers both housecats and small predatory wild cats, such as…wildcats or jaguarundis. Cats are not tough at all, and domestic cats will flee after any damage, while wild cats will fight a little more than that. Cats get a bonus to attacks from stealth and to damage on Decisive savaging attacks, as they bat at foes and break necks. They can also reflexively clinch foes their own size or smaller by spending Willpower if they move into Close range and make a good enough Withering attack. They can be trained to deal pretty nasty damage to bigger foes, though they can’t grapple them, and can be trained to get underfoot, so that all attacks against larger foes count as being made from stealth for its special bonuses. This can make them pretty dangerous as pets, as long as you have someone to keep them from getting instantly stomped by a nasty attack. They have excellent hearing, getting a bonus to hearing-based Perception checks, get a bonus to all checks to keep their balance and reduce falling damage, can see well in darkness and are Tiny Creatures, which gives +2 Evasion against larger foes and makes it harder to notice them if you’re bigger than they are. Claw Striders are reptilian pack hunters of the plains and savannas, about the size of a man and armed with powerful foot-claws that can tear out a throat in one slash. They run down their prey to exhaustion to weaken them or wait in ambush at oases. By working together, they are even able to take down elephants, yeddim and the occasional tyrant lizard. They are quite clever and capable of coordinated pack tactics, and some desert tribes tame them as powerful (if bad-tempered) mounts. They’re pretty tough but don’t like to stick around if they get hurt. They get bonuses to attack from stealth, are innately capable of using the Distract gambit to help their packmates (and can be trained to use it to help a master), and are more accurate and damaging the more claw striders there are nearby, as they assist each other on the attack. They can be trained to use this in conjunction with their master and their master’s allies. They can also spend Willpower to reflexively attack foes that try to flee them when they Rush, are very good at Rushes in general and have excellent vision, getting a bonus on all vision-based Perception rolls. Death Moas are large, carnivorous land birds of the islands of the West, much larger than a man or horse. Their beaks can tear through bone easily, making them apex predators wherever they show up. Their tactics are pretty simple – chase down prey and beat them death. They are very tough, and they won’t flee until quite hurt – and even then, they may stay if they’re defending a kill. Their Decisive attacks are quite powerful if they’ve built up Initiative, especially against Crashed foes, as are their Rushes. They can attack out to Short range easily, as well. A death moa familiar can learn a power that lets them treat everyone as in Crash when they get an Initiative Break, too. They have excellent vision and get a bonus to all vision-based Perception rolls. Dogs and Wolves use the same statblock, and are common across Creation as hunting beasts, war animals, guards, pets and wild predators. (Obviously, these stats are for a big, combat-capable dog.) Dogs are about average toughness, but will flee quickly when injured unless defending a master or commanded to stay by one. Wolves will flee if moderately damaged. Dogs and wolves are both able to prevent foes from disengaging with their Withering attacks, get bonuses for fighting alongside packmates (which they can be trained to treat human allies as) and can be trained to reflexively grapple foes they manage to harry and keep in place. They can also be trained to counterattack people who attack their master while defending their master, and can use this to distract or disarm foes. A familiar can also learn how to magically bite super hard when attacking people that harmed their master. Dogs and wolves have excellent senses of smell and get a bonus to scent-based Perception rolls, and they can be trained to track specific types of scent, such as human scents from clothes, drugs, the undead or so on, to become even better at tracking that kind of thing. They can be trained to be able to defend people while also attacking, or to be good at noticing ambushes. A familiar can even be taught how to magically force people to strike them over their master when defending a master, and cannot easily be killed while doing so. Eagles are…eagles. They are aerial predators that feed on stuff like small dogs and rabbits, killing with a talon strike or by dropping prey from heights. In the West and Northeast, common tales tell of them attacking children or horses, but most people elsewhere don’t believe it. Eagles are common on the Blessed Isle, the West and the North, and can also be found in the East, but there they must compete with mospids and striges, so they aren’t as numerous. Eagles can perform a death dive, allowing them to make really nasty decisive attacks by charging foes from above, and get even more powerful when doing so from stealth. A familiar can learn to strengthen themselves, allowing them to better control clinches and letting them grapple human-sized foes, or grab weapons and drop them on people, which is inaccurate but powerful. Eagles have a huge bonus to vision-based Perception while flying high in the air, are good at tracking people from the air and can Rush large vertical distances. Next time: Emperor Sloths, Gorillas, Great Cats, Hellboars, Horses, Ox-Dragons, Pestletails
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Apr 10, 2019 17:27
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They didn't mention the special relationship that certain Dragonblooded have with certain eagles? Boo.
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Apr 10, 2019 17:32
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Can you ride around on a Death Moa?
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Apr 10, 2019 17:32
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If you can tame the giant monster bird, then presumably yes.
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Apr 10, 2019 17:36
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Do they come in yellow
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Apr 10, 2019 17:44
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no, those are the slightly smaller carnivorous death bird, the austrech, which is not in this book
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Apr 10, 2019 17:46
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MollyMetroid posted:Do they come in yellow Given how much Exalted tries to pretend it has nothing to do with it's actual inspirations, I'm going to guess that yellow is explicitly not allowed.
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Apr 10, 2019 17:48
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