Non-Vidya Gaems General

ClockworkUniverse

I feel like CoC's deadliness is kind of exaggerated for humor purposes a lot of the time. Oh, characters will die, since it's a horror game, so if character death were a rare thing, that wouldn't really work. But you don't go into an adventure assuming that everyone will die.

And again, it depends on the scenario design.

I'm reading the default introductory adventure from the core rulebook, and what's particularly noteworthy to me from a design standpoint is that the largest amount of damage a PC can take during the scenario occurs while they're only investigating a haunted house, well before they get into combat with the creature responsible, and that it's quite unlikely to actually kill someone, meaning the PCs can then retreat and come back after recovering. The actual monster doesn't do a huge amount of damage for the most part, but one of his attacks can cause an infection that can lead to a small but permanent stat penalty.

And then, of course, there's sanity loss, which does weaken a character over time, but what people forget is that the system does account for gaining sanity, from either any victories you manage or taking a break from fighting evil.

lrdgck

So exactly what is the problem with the implied character classes in point-build systems? Obviously people are going to have their skills divided into skillsets based upon things like their occupation, so this way you can make a claim that even Call of Cthulhu has classes. I know of a system where the only stand-in for "classes" has the form of templates to make character creation easier - I think CoC has a similar method, albeit it's simpler so you can quickly roll a new character when the last one was eaten - but then, the setting's society is pretty feudal so each of the standard patterns is going to be attributed to one or another faction.

Kraken

In any case, Exalted doesn't really have classes. I mean sure, as going with the comparisons to World of Darkness, your Solar and Sidereal Exalted are as different to each other as Hunters and Mages are. 

But as to the castes themselves, it works kind of differently; you can learn any skill or charm that your type of Exalted allows, but you get a discount when learning things that are favored by your caste.

And as to balance, the problem is that each Exalted is supposed to play different games; Solars and their subtypes are supposed to rely on their grit and superhuman skills, Lunars are supposed to use their superhuman attributes and shapeshifting, Sidereals are meant to use a governmental system to get what they want, and Dragon-Blooded are meant to work together because they're by far the weakest individually.

ClockworkUniverse

So exactly what is the problem with the implied character classes in point-build systems?

Yes, any system will have sort of "default" builds that a lot of people will use, but I prefer that to a class system because if I have a weird character build concept, the rules will still support it.

lrdgck

Then I'm gonna mention Fading Suns' mechanics, that's the system I spoke of. And, yeah, I prefer point-build too.

ClockworkUniverse

So I preordered this lovely reprint of the original D&D White Box. Very much looking forward to that.

ClockworkUniverse

>reading Pathfinder rulebook
>notice that the longsword and bastard sword are backwards

Apparently I've been around Alex too much. 

MadassAlex

And then it niggles the back of your mind that two-handed weapons are consistently depicted as being exceedingly slow in RPGs, in tabletop and vidya examples alike. Then the artwork depicting characters keeping their sword on their back becomes a bit of an irritant and then and then and then

This road leads only to madness. 

All Nines

You mean Madassness?

Madassitude?

Nyktos

Ass madness

glennmagusharvey

Anyone know if there is something akin to a real life multitool (such as a Leatherman) in D&D/Pathfinder?

lrdgck

That's an oddly specific question. Wouldn't a mention of "a set of tools" in the equipment section suffice?

glennmagusharvey

Well it's specifically a compact device that contains a number of small tools, like a Swiss Army knife, but with even more tools.

I guess the closest thing would probably be Swiss Army knife, then add more tools and more cost to it, or something like that.  I wonder if even that exists.

lrdgck

"Gnomish army knife +1"

glennmagusharvey

While looking for "dungeons and dragons swiss army knife", I came across this:

http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Mew_(3.5e_Monster)

This apparently has this spell as a special ability: http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Proximity_to_Cat_(3.5e_Spell)

lrdgck

Can't it be talked through with your GM? So far, it doesn't seem much for me to make up what is pretty much a Swiss army knife, call it a mix of thieves' tools and artisan's tools in one, and declare it as some sort of one-time Gnomish invention or whatever. I mean, that should work unless you want to play super-close to the letter of the rules.

glennmagusharvey

Yeah, I know.  This isn't for any particular campaign (yet); I was just curious.

Your idea makes sense -- some kind of gnomish invention that contains and costs more than the combination of multiple sets of tools.  Probably may have to be custom-ordered from a gnome crafter.

glennmagusharvey

And since this thread is active:

http://www.opengamingstore.com/products/pfrpg-gms-day-mega-10-for-10-classy-bundle

Anyone have an opinion on this?

lrdgck

(Just for the record, don't look at me. I recognize none of the names. But I might as well bump the thread.)

glennmagusharvey

A friend on IRC found this: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/traveler-s-any-tool

My (character's) wishlist:
Traveler's Any-Tool
Brass Spider (ranged disable device)
Vest of Escape (+4 Disable Device, +6 Escape Artist)
Cloak of Elvenkind (+5 Stealth)
Ring of Protection (+X AC (deflection))

lrdgck

Looks like you've got it. By the way, we've had another tabletop RPG thread, hadn't we? I remember posting in a thread that wasn't this one.

glennmagusharvey

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prestidigitation

so level 1 Thermal Hand from Railgun counts as this?

glennmagusharvey

https://geekandsundry.com/candidate-wins-election-by-literally-rolling-a-natural-20/

lrdgck

Let's hope he also had good rolls on INT and WIS.

lrdgck

Right now with the virus thing going on, there's lots of free RPGs in PDF form, so watch out for freebies if you're into that stuff. Posting here, the second of our two tabletop gaming thread (the other's here) because in this one there's been an interesting discussion circa 2013.

Also, one of these days I'm gonna write a playable scenario and send to some RPG writing contest, and win something. A man can dream.

glennmagusharvey

turns out there's a lot more than just one tabletop game in that giant itch bundle

here's a list of all of them

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XZXkfcJY1Gcj4tZY4vuhnrDiIDJEXFrgc2PXKHSH9k/edit#gid=0

glennmagusharvey

In addition to the big charity Ukraine bundle centered on videogames, itch.io is also currently hosting two other charity bundles going right now, both for tabletop RPGs:

another Ukraine bundle
https://itch.io/b/1314/the-ttrpg-community-stands-with-ukraine-bundle
and one supporting trans rights in Texas
https://itch.io/b/1308/ttrpgs-for-trans-rights-in-texas

lrdgck

So far, I haven't paid attention to the fact that gatherer.wizards.com has a tab for players' opinions. Until now. And it actually turns out the stuff folksies post in there is hilarious. Also, some decent insight from a player's point of view.