Does anyone else here think mental stats like intelligence, charisma and wisdom should be renamed?
I get that they represent part of a character's fundamental ability to solve problems and suppas challenges. But they're way too tied into personality as opposed to dexterity and strength.
I'd like to see Intelligence be replaced with something like knowledge or magic, it sounds dorky I know but just like strength, knowledge is something you have to train to have a lot of, whereas intelligence is much more static.
I'm sick of not being able to make fighters without them having to be retarded.
>>46727154
Have you considered not playing D&D?
>>46727165
I'm pretty new to p&p rpg but based on how prevalent mental stats are in video games I assumed that they would be prevalent in other p&p rpgs as well.
What system would recommend instead?
>>46727154
I'm with you on Knowledge instead of Intelligence; Knowledge is a thing that your character has or doesn't have, like Strength, but Intelligence gets mixed up with the intelligence of the player, which always gets taken personally. Also, there are lots of different types of intelligence and ways to be intelligent, which interferes with abstracting it down into a number.
Wisdom could be Awareness. Again, Awareness is a thing that your character has or doesn't have; you can't be aware for your character, because the GM will either give you information or won't.
All that said, this is basically just renaming the statistics and keeping the functionality. It doesn't really matter how the game itself applies these terms as long as the people in a given group have basically the same concept for them.
Which has the better lore?
>>46727000
It's like asking which color is better - blue or pink. Some like fantasy better, others prefer 40k. Some even like AoS. This is a retarded question. 1/10 made me reply.
>>46727000
WHFB hands down. It had actual characters that evolved, places that characters would return to, and readers grew familiar with, and an actual world to delve in. Not to mention the tons of books that formed the lore over the decades. Pre-BL and whatever. Books like"The undead Genevieve"
40k's books are mostly on some random, and exchangeable numbered world, and its biggest draw is the setting itself, not the lore. It's a constant repetition.
30k however is pretty good, at least in my opinion. It offers the consistency for the lore to settle, that 40k needs.
>>46727000
>alive vs dead
>Which has the better lore?
Isn't it obvious?
We've just cleared a dungeon, but the only magical item we found was a staff which went to our wizard. Our DM said we did good and he will create a minor custom magical item for the rest of the party with the intention that it will help our characters in our travels but do nothing in combat.
I'm the party fighter and tank and I got:
>Cape of the Fledgling Hero
>This cape gives off a faintly pleasant smell. While wearing this cape dirt and grime cannot stick to the wearer and simply fall off. The effect is similar to taking a bath.In case you're wondering, no he's not trying to tell me I smell. We play over roll20 and I shower every day
Besides wearing it and looking pretty, what else could I use it for?
Chuck it in the occasional puddle to let haughty bitches step through without getting their feet dirty.
Play your cards right and you could be rolling in princess pussy.
>>46726969
DM should've given it to the bard.
>>46726983
We don't have a bard, our party is: fighter, wizard, cleric, monk and rogue. My fighter is female, the only female in the party.
I know the monk got some kind of bag of endless condiment as he like to channel that dorf from Dungeon Meshi and cook monsters.We tried to cheese that bag and ask the DM if truffles count as a condiment and how much of it could we get out of it per day, we got told truffles is not a condiment
Starting an evolution game if anybody is interested
For those who haven't played before, I will give some information...
The game is based around editing the basic organisms in the image, to "evolve" them, you will have to adapt them so they can thrive on their planet
This is done by saving the image of the organism, editing it in MS Paint/Other programme, saving the new organism and then uploading it.
When editing an organism, the changes should make said organism better suited to fit the ecosystem such as defensive and offensive mechanisms to protect from predators, catch prey, etc. It should also be adapted to its environment or climate, i.e. adapted to Hot, Cold, Water Logged, Radioactive areas, etc.
I will post the game rules in a separate post as well as individual jpgs of the organisms if you want
The game takes place on a planet not too far from our own, water is in abundance and dry land is present. However, life is only adapted at the moment to live in marshy swampland areas
Here are the rules:
- No editing a creature straight after you just edited it, make sure there is at least one edited creature post in between, I have no problem with you doing it like this: Creature A, then Creature B, then Creature A
- Creatures do not go extinct unless I declare them extinct
- Only one change per generation (colour changes included)
- Changes should be minute, if you want to make a large change, it should take multiple posts, the bigger the change, the longer the amount of posts
- Changes should be logical
- No alien intervention/Extinction level events/Climate changes unless I declare there to be
- Joke evolutions are fine as long as they are a one off, don't keep evolving joke organisms
- If an organism has evolved to be a separate species, state its name specifically, if it's just a subspecies or offshoot it can keep it's previous name
- State its attributes i.e. Diet, Locomotion Method, Etc.
Did I miss anything?
>>46726908
>No shitposting
>Avoid responding to shitposters
>>46726841
The herbivores no longer swim from algae to algae. Instead they consume the algae whole and store it in their stretchy body, carrying it around until it loses its nutritions.
I'm too tired to think of anything, but I'm rootin' for algae to locomote, leave the ocean, eliminate the enemies and take over using nothing but domesticated detritivores for CO2 production.
I sincerely hope everyone else is with me.
So after our 5e session tonight, my friend brought up an issue he has with a variant rule of ours: if you fire into a melee combat, and miss, there's a chance you might hit someone else by accident. So you roll another attack to see if you hit someone nearby instead.
He thinks this is anti fun because it basically makes ranged characters useless at firing into melee combat. That was kind of the point of the variant rule because it's immersion breaking in my opinion to basically take a gun and shoot into a crowd and not ever hit anyone by accident.
So that leads me to my question: as far as I know, in earlier editions, rules like this were in effect. So what did people do in those situations to have ranged attackers still be useful? Or is it that you're just supposed to attack that you can't fire into a melee and look for other ways to help out?
3.5: Feat tax the fuck out of every ranged attacker into taking Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot. Ranged is still better than melee because of full attacks and 110 feet on a composite longbow.That's a familiar magic circle.
4e: No feat tax at all, enjoy being a ranged character, powers were balanced around this.
>>46725843
Some games intend to simulate the reality of an adventure by rolling dice for random elements of the game world.
Other games are intended to facilitate a dramatic story around the characters the players create.
Maybe you like one of these kinds of games over the other? Maybe that player enjoys a game that facilitates a better story for his character, and maybe you favor a game that more accurately simulates a realistic game world.
>>46725843
Well, not hitting your target doesn't have to mean that you hit a friendly, but may simply hit another enemy. Which is, imo, annoying, but not per se bad.
If that's not enough, play around a bit with hit chances to make hitting your actual target more likely. Perhaps to such a degree, that a ranged attacker has a (slightly) better chance that melee fighters, with the tradeoff of a small chance to hit friendlies that comes with not hitting your target (ie. the archer has a 20% better chance to hit an enemy, because they can't parry/dodging is hard or something like that, but on the other hand has a 10-20% to hit a friendly.)
Imagine a campaign where the true enemy isn't present for the whole campaign. The party is aware something is wrong, some great power is present. But they can't find it, not directly. Slowly over time they find cultists, people worshipping a nameless entity, one without precedent in their entire world's cultures. They say the being only demands hard work, their fealty, and their respect for it to share its boundless power with them. But that it cannot be seen, not by any mortal man. If one were to see it they would be driven mad and destroyed utterly, annihilated. But the party fight against it. This entity is corrupting the young and the ignorant masses, converting them into following it even though its path leads nowhere. Its path never changes. All it does is corrode and wither humanity to powerlessness, making even great men slavering psychopaths.
One day, in the midst of their efforts to mitigate the being's influence, they hear news that the leaders of the cult have spoken. The entity is coming. They say it will enter this world and finally take control of it perfectly, and lead them all into a future of purest light and irresistable power. This promise, with one more: the entity will finally reveal itself to the faithful, and salute them as its brothers in arms, before accepting them into its fold. The party battles their way into the cultists' stronghold, making a final desperate rush to prevent the world's ultimate distruction. They kill many cultists, even the young and the innocent, such is their desperation to succeed. They must save the world. They must save the ones they love. They must save themselves.
But in the end, they are too late. Even with the cult leader's blood on their hands, his body lying cold on the floor, the entity brings itself into this universe. The corrupted portal it steps through is already beginning to tear at the fabric of reality, and the sounds of the last sane people in existence shrieking in abject horror fills the air. The party finally sees him, in all his hideous splendor.
Continue...
If no, why not ?
I've witnesses that it helps people play their character better, especially new players.
I think it just adds a lot and do not necessarily require that much $$$.
I have a samurai helmet I wear sometimes.
>>46725520
No, my wardrobe is fucking tiny and as the GM I'd have bring a costume closet with me for all the different characters in a single session. That said, it might be fun to dress up as the most common mook. If I had more stuff to wear I might actually consider the notion since I love everything related to acting, including costume and make-up.
On a related note, I've been meaning to buy a fancy wizard hat for ages. I think every GM should I have wizard hat, regardless of the system or setting.
>>46725520
We do dress for LotR setting or SW setting.
LotR is easier and much more comfortable tho
Salt: A World History
Mark Kurlansky
Paperback Edition, 2015
>“There is every reason to believe that the primitive mind equated the idea of salt, not only with that of semen, but also with the essential constituent of urine.”
‘Salt’ is an impressively entertaining history book, mixing biographies, travelogues, and recipes with the story of salt and salt-making through the ages and around the world. From ancient Egypt, where your status dictated the type of salt used in mummifying your body to modern-day Sichuan, where natural gas has fueled salt boilers since 100 AD, Mark Kurlansky unfolds the tale of mankind’s quest for salt. More importantly for /tg/, it’s a great resource for GMs and worldbuilders looking to go beyond the gold/spice/slave economy you see in most fantasy polities.
What makes ‘Salt’ so useful? Kurlansky goes into great and intimate detail on the history and culture surrounding salt when it was scarce. While nowadays doctors urge us to eat less salt, for almost the entirety of human history salt was a scarce necessity, one imbued with religious and political significance on top of its economic importance. Unlike flashier and more oft-considered commodities like pepper, gold, or coal, salt is essential to human life. Salt became an object of worship and devotion, was the primary source of government revenue for many of the great empires, and was as vital to pre-Industrial civilizations as oil is to ours.
>”Soaked frog” was a specialty of Zigong salt merchants. A few pieces of wood would be floated in a large jar of brine. Live frogs would be put in the jar, and they would desperately perch on the pieces of wood. The jar and the frogs would be dead and dried on the wood but preserved because they had dipped in the salt. They would then be steamed.
>>46724041
You won’t just make a fantasy kingdom surrounded by mountains yet self-sufficient in water and farmland anymore. After all, they need a source of salt to make ham and pickle vegetables, purify silver ore and raise revenue, and maintain their independence from other kingdoms that might have excess salt to trade. Without a salt source under their control, this hypothetical kingdom would be hostage to foreign powers for an element as essential as water. As Kurlansky explains, the Aztec control of salt sources in Mesoamerica was the secret to their domination of surrounding nations, and French domination of the fine sea salt market was a serious concern for England’s rulers throughout the Middle Ages and Enlightenment.
The quest for salt begins, surprisingly, with the Chinese. Ancient salt wells in Sichuan brought up buckets of natural salt brine. Natural gas uncovered by mining fueled boilers and was piped through bamboo pipes across thousands of miles to the heart of ancient Chinese cities as fuel. The image of towering bamboo derricks even entered the language as “井,” meaning “well.” And it was in China that salt was first controlled by the government.
>In 1901, two men, Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas, ignored the advice of geologists and started drilling a Texas salt dome called Spindletop... No longer were terms like ‘well’ and ‘drill rig’ to conjure up the image of salt. Spindletop had spawned the age of petroleum.
>>46724059
Whether the actual production of salt is controlled, as by Imperial China or the city-state of Parma, or salt is simply taxed and regulated, as with Rome or France, or even if salt’s supply is controlled by economic means, as with Venice and Genoa, the demand for salt has meant that governments throughout history have used it as a source of revenue. The onerous French Gabelle, which taxed the salt trade heavily and unequally and required vast amounts of it to be purchased by French citizens regardless of need, is the longest-lived and perhaps most tragic of salt revenue systems, lasting from 1259 to 1946. Dozens of rebellions can be laid at its feet, and a constant battle was fought between gabelous officers, charged with its enforcement, and salt smugglers throughout the history and territory of France.
>In most cultures only men were allowed to gather salt, but the Navajo allowed women also. The Zuni, according to legend, originally allowed both, but their frivolity on the mission offended the salt goddess and the salt supply started to vanish. So they changed the custom to men only.
This same power has meant that salt has garnered tremendous religious significance as well; Native American civilizations and tribes invariably had goddesses of salt, and the gathering of salt was as much a spiritual pilgrimage as it was an economic activity. But surprisingly few RPG pantheons feature a goddess of salt; even Procan of Greyhawk is basically a god of oceans despite managing salt as a part of his portfolio. The closest salt comes to religion in most traditional games is as a tool for purification and dispelling evil, yet few seem to know that in ancient Greece and Rome holy water was made by blessing a mixture of salt and water. How shallow most settings are can be seen in how little salt, and other necessary but mundane goods like tin, lead, glass, etc. are ignored in favor of magical rocks or complex justifications of a slave economy.
>>46724086
>In the Middle Ages, salt already had a wide variety of industrial applications besides preserving food. It was used to cure leather, to clean chimneys, for soldering pipes, to glaze pottery, and as a medicine for a wide variety of complaints from toothaches to upset stomachs, to “heaviness of mind.”
But ‘Salt’ also delves deeply into the cultural history of salt, from the ancient Egyptians to modern-day Brittany revivalists. Egyptians knew of several types of salt, but mummies rich and poor were preserved with natron, an impure salt believed to be have medicinal properties. While Europeans desired pure white salt, painstakingly purified from sea water, Africa has always had a taste for salts containing mineral impurities for added flavor in cooking, and Asia has a history of developing complex and salty sauces made from pickled fish and vegetables. The unique cultural artifacts of humanity’s dependence on salt, like the salt potatoes of Syracuse or the tuna run fishing ceremonies of the Mediterranean are yet more fuel for the creative fire.
Imagine the city of Waterdeep, from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Where does Waterdeep get its salt? If you look at the climate, it seems too cold for evaporation ponds. Northern European nations like Sweden and Finland would establish elaborate pumping networks to bring up cold, salt-dense water from the deep ocean and consume vast amounts of fuel to boil it into salt; could Waterdeep magically transport and heat enough salt for a major trade city? Or would Waterdeep function more like Venice, paying merchants subsidies for bringing salt to their city and distributing it from there at higher prices? What sort of cultural artifacts would the City of Splendors create around salt; perhaps salted sahuagin made in Skullport for export to kua-toas, or sprinkling salt over an entrance to Undermountain before delving into it?
What's the weirdest thing you've ever kept in a bag of holding?
You, anon.
A blackhole. Pickpocket me again will ya? Stupid Street urchins
>>46723406
A penis. We were drunk, and having fun, fighting our way through a fertilely goddess's temple that had been taken over by a asshole wizard. When we finally managed to kill him, a disco ball dropped down from the ceiling, the light dimmed, and the goddess stepped out with our reward.
Which was a penis. A fully healthy, working penis, that just happened to be missing a body to go along with it. Evidently we can 'use' it to summon her, but we just tossed it it my bag and make a occasional joke about it.
Why aren't you running more oozing and slimy creatures in your campaigns?
They're horrifying.
Tell that to /d/
Because that's everyone's fetish at the table
>>46723381
That's only because the ooze is lady-shaped, and not dissolving and breaking down your body.
I come to you with hat in hand, kneeling in supplication.
I've started playing Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok. I bought the physical book (for a comically high price) and now I want more, but can't afford them. Looking for Fafnir's Treasure and Denizens of the North. I've scoured the internet for hours but to no avail, my fate is in your hands.
Here's Fafnir's Treasure
http://www.fateofthenorns.com/stuff/FOTNR_Saga_Fafnirs_Treasure.pdf
>>46723087
Ah, shit that's just a preview
>>46723052
so how good is this? I honestly didn't know about this, but now that i do and i've read a bit, i'm starting to really want it. is it worth?
In 5e, what are some hazardous things that could be involved in the teaching of each school of magic?
In particular I'm having trouble thinking of something that could be dangerous to students of divination. Perhaps a look into another plane?
>>46722828
Madness. Accidentally being able to shut out seeing the future at random. Not even you or your party's future. Just some days you wake up into the future of a farmer on another material plane and just have to wait it out until you can remember who you really are and snap back to your body.
>>46722828
You keep seeing how people will die and no matter what you do to stop it you can't save them
Ever make a campaign set exclusively in hell? If not how would you do it?
>>46720398
Requiem Chevalier Vampire.
>>46720398
Roll for whatever
*Everyone rolls d-anythings*
You all continue to burn forever.
REEEAAAL fun.
>>46720398
Why do you think they describe the planes of Hell etc. in the D&D Planar Handbook type books? It's for exactly this kind of purpose.
A GM should have no problem contriving an excuse for the players go actually travel to the Lower Planes. Getting them some kind of permit of safe passage is another story but also not too difficult, particularly for higher-level characters.
Collecting some rare plant, retrieving a lost item, heck even thwarting some nefarious plan are all good reasons for the PCs to go to Hell and not necessarily be opposed by every single creature they meet. There ARE cities in the lower planes, and with the right passes they can be about as accommodating as Drow cities in the Underdark.
Sup /tg/, I'm working on a new setting and magic system and I need some advice or feedback.
>The branches of Magic
There are three general types of magic. Beyond being different methods, each also has a different usage and limitations as to what they can do.
All magic users can tap into any or all of these branches and schools of magical power, but many specialize.
>High Arcanism
Sometimes called 'Classical Magic', it is the most formulaic and well understood branch of magic. Essentially, this power is the same as the power of the Gods, being able to change the world- mutations, transformations, terraforming, bestowing magical powers, etc. These are the powers related to this field, and it includes things like Alchemy, Sacred Metallurgy and Scroll Making.
>Twilight Thaumaturgy
This second branch of magic is based on the idea of being able to reach through the barrier and void between this world and the mirror realm. The mirror realm is not quite the afterlife, but it is essentially the land of emotions parallel to our land of the physical. People visit here when they dream, and everyone has copies and symbols here. This magic also includes the power to summon creatures from this realm, teleportation, as well as evocation of the raw energy created here. Black Fire, Lightning Bolts, Waves of Chilling ice are native to this realm from emotions and the creatures inhabitanting it.
>Witchcraft
The 'lowest' and most pedestrian of all magical arts; it is by far the most common type of magic and is by no means weak. It involves the subtle concepts of symbolism and luck. Magical rituals and crafts allow people to manipulate luck and fate, sometimes to uncanny levels. This magic produces less immediate, overt, or tangible effects but it can make people horribly cursed or lucky, as well as ritually enchanting magical items for specific purposes.
What do you think about this magic system?
...refreshed my page by mistake while trying to cut part of my message to post separately (2038/2000).
Can't be assed to retype that, you get nothing.
>>46721717
That sucks anon.
Can't even get a synopsis? I mean you took the time to post that you lost the real post.
>>46722813 I guess I'll try retyping it, give me a minute.
>>>46719595 What do you think about this magic system?*What do you think about these magic systems?
Straight out the gate, the biggest issue is that these magic systems are completely disparate.
That's fine from the perspective of suspending disbelief, but it's not aesthetically pleasing.
Roleplay is largely about wish fulfillment, and poor aesthetics are a great way to rain on that parade.
Does /tg/ have any interest in starting a VASSAL wargaming society?
It'd be nice to have some regulars to play the old hex classics with. It's a crying shame to see hundreds of old wargame designs hosted with almost no playerbase
>http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Category:Modules
I'm personally looking for someone in a west-coast ish timezone to play ww2 operational stuff with, but I'm pretty flexible
goddamn, the traffic log in this place is really killing small threads now, eh?
Bump for interest
Free bump because I'd rather this thread get exposure than 90% of the other shit up right now