[Tome] The Koumei PHB Project: Races

[Mask_De_H]

New rule: anyone who enjoys Touhou cannot deride something as too silly. This is punishable by Riki Lariat.

Seriously though, fuck that guy. Sadly, there are a lot of people like that out there. I've had Frank's Soulborn rejected on the grounds of the quote more times than on any percieved overpoweredness. I now want to make a Touhoues class to spite that guy though.n

[Starmaker]

Lest I be misinterpreted - Koumei, you're awesome.

well, I made the Empusa there

Sexy outsiders in a high fantasy game book are necessary.

Because either "legitimising" it with stats and numbers or saying "It will be played out" adds that level of emphasis that means characters tend to actually have objectives and interests pertinent to getting laid and (...)

Funny, "it will be played out" serves as a discouragement to have sex in face-to-face games. And there's a story to discourage the use of the discouragement, of course ("Played out you say? Okay, pull down your pants.")

(and I have no idea why, I may have just had a good streak of lucky cases) this somehow seems to result in the characters being played better and seeming more real.

Relationships between characters are always good for characterization. They are what characterization is. When the GM reads the intro, I decide to like and hate a number of NPCs on a whim, then construct my char's backstory based on these randomized opinions.
NPCs are good for this sort of thing. Players in general tend to associate closely with their characters. Sexing up a fellow player character can lead to much awkwardness later. Anonymous players, on the other hand, may pull a bloodninja or just plain suck at roleplaying.
So yeah, anything that encourages people think of NPCs in broader terms than "is it a quest-giver or a mob?" improves the game tremendously.

On references, jokes, etc: awesome, don't stop, EVAR. Some people might complain having an ability called "sharding your purples" ruins dramatic tension. Fuck them. There's a reason why designers choose lolrandom names for their projects beyond secrecy, and that's to not let an initial idea grow on you, and a descriptive dissociation between mechanics and in-game events can totally be supported. If mentioning the ability by name won't serve as a sufficient ingame description of the action ("I cast Glitterdust"), players have to imagine and say wtf they are actually doing. Also, I noticed people do more epic things more often when they can discharge the parasite tension using dissociatively named mechanics as a sink: they sacrifice themselves to save their world/lover/master/pet canary and finish the epic description with "so, that'd be All Your Base DC 48, roll".

References make the article/book fun to read. This is a huge advantage of free books over commercial releases, because books people pay for have to hide their references like... okay, nothing tasteful comes to mind. Even then, people remember Monte Cook's jokes in 3.0, although I have no idea what these were (I remember the one about a brassiere, but (1) it was in the DMG and (2) I mostly lol'd out of a sense of superiority due to knowing obscure words and being able to understand jokes as a result). Bland walls of text in the manual for a game that's played for fun is dissociation of the worst sort and it simply shouldn't happen.

[Josh_Kablack]

Josh: I should have clarified something: I do believe in the whole "right time and place for things". I mean, Elliquiy is the only place where I don't black-screen things, and in games there, you're seriously agreeing ahead of time what it is you want - it becomes another pre-game matter like "What stat generation do we use?"

However I will tend to sexy things up in general with Ikkitousen-style combat and the like.

And lemme clarify a few things:

I have no objection to sex in RPGs in the abstract - heck I enjoy reading some of the related rants and mechanics posted here and elsewhere on the web. I was merely providing a personalized response to Prak's question about why and how putting sex into a game can be a bad thing for some folks. (Or in my case, for the group dynamics between a diverse group of folks)

Folks who don't want sex in their games, should simply avoid games that have sex in them. Folks who do not want sex in their games should not wander around the internet insulting folks who do. Lord knows, there're plenty of other things to insult people for over the internet.

[Koumei]

Another Human feat was made :3c

Also, still no idea what to do for a Vaxt Prestige Class. Once that is done, though, this thing is basically complete and I can accept my throne and sceptre. Should I apply for an MBE, perhaps?

[Vebyast]

Also, still no idea what to do for a Vaxt Prestige Class.

Might fit better as a feat, but something like "Strength of Roots". Gets stupidly large strength and con bonuses, as well as lets them destroy objects (say, castles) by growing on them and wedging bricks apart.

[Maxus]

Also, still no idea what to do for a Vaxt Prestige Class.

Might fit better as a feat, but something like "Strength of Roots". Gets stupidly large strength and con bonuses, as well as lets them destroy objects (say, castles) by growing on them and wedging bricks apart.

There was a book I read...I think the title was Street Magic and I'm pretty sure it was by Tamora Pierce.

But the main character is a kid with plant-magic who has a bunch of seeds he keeps around to use to wreck buildings.

Also as anti-personal mines (he took out an assassin by making a plant go so quickly it grew *through* the guy).

So maybe Vaxt PrC could indeed be Warshroom.

And have a fireflower ability to shot little fireballs as a ranged touch attack...

[Vebyast]

Another idea: the Stolon Thrower. Stolons are little sideways roots that turn into clones of the original plant, so the entire class would basically be Entangle plus Mirror Image on plant steroids fertilizer.

[Username17]

There was a book I read...I think the title was Street Magic and I'm pretty sure it was by Tamora Pierce.

But the main character is a kid with plant-magic who has a bunch of seeds he keeps around to use to wreck buildings.

Also as anti-personal mines (he took out an assassin by making a plant go so quickly it grew *through* the guy).

Yes it is. It is Book 2 of the Circle Opens series. It's not the same book as the 4th edition Shadowrun advanced magic supplement of the same name. It's for kids, so the sexual innuendo is so subtle that you could totally miss it (main character is a plat mage who does magic with roots, his girlfriend is an earth mage, do the math).

-Username17

[Maxus]

There was a book I read...I think the title was Street Magic and I'm pretty sure it was by Tamora Pierce.

But the main character is a kid with plant-magic who has a bunch of seeds he keeps around to use to wreck buildings.

Also as anti-personal mines (he took out an assassin by making a plant go so quickly it grew *through* the guy).

Yes it is. It is Book 2 of the Circle Opens series. It's not the same book as the 4th edition Shadowrun advanced magic supplement of the same name. It's for kids, so the sexual innuendo is so subtle that you could totally miss it (main character is a plat mage who does magic with roots, his girlfriend is an earth mage, do the math).

-Username17

I remember liking it for the combat applications of plant-magic.

And for the epic house-wrecking at the end.

It's been years since I've read it, though

[Koumei]

And thus the Overgrown is complete.

[Vebyast]

And thus the Overgrown is complete.

Very cool.

One small problem, though: the Sproutlings ability (Mirror Image) is useless when the Overgrown is Ingrained, because the area of planty doom is always centered around the real, immobile Overgrown.

Also, I feel like its Entangle radius should be bigger, maybe on the order of 5' per HD/Level. 15' isn't enough to interdict even a medium-size room, and it's certainly not enough to give Overgrown the thematically-appropriate ability to wreck castles at higher levels.

[Koumei]

Completed.

That is all.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Massive Growth [Monster]
Like the great redwood trees, you are very big.
Requirements: Vaxt
Benefits: your size improves by one category, though you do not get the ability score/natural armour changes.

The way this is worded, someone could argue for actually shrinking at first level. The intent is obvious, though.

[ProfessorCirno]

Haha, so this is what I find on goggling myself on a lark.

Ace, first off, I've no clue why you seem to hate me so much here. You and I've never fought once in the channel. Like, at all. We've always been cool with each other, or at least that's the feeling I got, so I guess you've secretly hated me forever or...something.

Just a heads up, for those saying "There's no way someone who likes Touhou could hate something silly," or how all my complaints are based on the writing style, you're absolutely correct. Koumei asked that we review her offering in a hilarious and over the top fashion. I noticed that part has been surgically removed from the pastedump there. You told me to be an angry frothing neckbeard, and then whine when I, well, do just that - not quite grasping what's up there. Hell, you were laughing as I typed that out, so it's kinda odd to see you suddenly go "Haha I was gonna tell him to suck a dick but that's below me." At the very least you should've said that then - we could've all gotten a laugh instead of just you :<

For the record, I don't care what sexual whatevers you have in your game. It was just easy to go psuedo-neckbeard about it.

Lastly Ace, if you have a problem with me or anyone else there, at least be open about it. This behind the back shit is just sad. What, you think we'll ban you or something? The most that'll happen is that someone will call you a [EDITED]. I'm sure you can handle that.

[Koumei]

Ace, first off, I've no clue why you seem to hate me so much here. You and I've never fought once in the channel. Like, at all. We've always been cool with each other, or at least that's the feeling I got, so I guess you've secretly hated me forever or...something.

I don't actually recall ever speaking with you about D&D that wasn't an argument. So our interactions are, by my knowledge, "D&D: arguing, also you suck. Other: I can't even remember". Hell, you like Pathfailure.

And disagreeing with me on everything D&D and speaking ill of my previous creations is enough reason for me to shitlist you: most of my time not spent jobhunting (which would be important if it had succeeded) is spent doing this and playing games, so it's basically insulting the only successful and entertaining thing I've managed to do the past few years. Yeah, if I had succeeded in being employed, I wouldn't give a shit.

Koumei asked that we review her offering in a hilarious and over the top fashion. I noticed that part has been surgically removed from the pastedump there. You told me to be an angry frothing neckbeard,

I'm going to admit that I can't remember doing that. If I recall correctly, and through the haze of drugs and weird sleeping "pattern", I probably don't recall correctly, you were talking shit about the Den, as per usual, following you finding a post of mine when I mentioned the "Ancient Greece had a word for debating in the nude" thing. So I asked people to have a look at this. I probably did say to review it, but I can't remember saying to be a frothing neckbeard over it (and weirdly I assumed it would be a review about the mechanics and basic concepts rather than specific names and descriptions). Then as your fake-rage increased to 8,999 and I didn't realise it was fake-rage, I was eager to push it 2 points higher.

For the record, I don't care what sexual whatevers you have in your game. It was just easy to go psuedo-neckbeard about it.

I think that was Symm who had issues with it. If Purple was there he would have had a seizure.

Lastly Ace, if you have a problem with me or anyone else there, at least be open about it.

I thought I was pretty open about thinking you're a dickhead. I posted the transcripts up there for a laugh (and to get a second opinion on the few non-flavour-text things mentioned), not as a way of poisoning people's opinions of a person they'd never met and probably never would (until now).

[Josh_Kablack]

Haha, so this is what I find on goggling myself on a lark.

Solution: get a bigger web presence.

[ProfessorCirno]

Ace, first off, I've no clue why you seem to hate me so much here. You and I've never fought once in the channel. Like, at all. We've always been cool with each other, or at least that's the feeling I got, so I guess you've secretly hated me forever or...something.

I don't actually recall ever speaking with you about D&D that wasn't an argument. So our interactions are, by my knowledge, "D&D: arguing, also you suck. Other: I can't even remember". Hell, you like Pathfailure.

Our disagreements have been minor things. You like stuff I dislike, I like stuff you dislike. We've never gotten pissy about it, we agreed to go our seperate ways as far as tastes go. Or at least, that what I had assumed.

And disagreeing with me on everything D&D and speaking ill of my previous creations is enough reason for me to shitlist you: most of my time not spent jobhunting (which would be important if it had succeeded) is spent doing this and playing games, so it's basically insulting the only successful and entertaining thing I've managed to do the past few years. Yeah, if I had succeeded in being employed, I wouldn't give a shit.

Dude, I don't give a shit about your previous creations. If you like it, then that's awesome - you found something you enjoy, and I can't and shouldn't try and take that from you. Seriously, I'm not going to judge your tastes - I have a fucking Touhou in my name, what could I possible say? Besides that, we've AGREED on quite a few stuff as well. We've had some pretty sweet conversations about various anime and shit. Hell, my first comment was "Utena! :B"

I'm going to admit that I can't remember doing that. If I recall correctly, and through the haze of drugs and weird sleeping "pattern", I probably don't recall correctly, you were talking shit about the Den, as per usual, following you finding a post of mine when I mentioned the "Ancient Greece had a word for debating in the nude" thing. So I asked people to have a look at this. I probably did say to review it, but I can't remember saying to be a frothing neckbeard over it (and weirdly I assumed it would be a review about the mechanics and basic concepts rather than specific names and descriptions). Then as your fake-rage increased to 8,999 and I didn't realise it was fake-rage, I was eager to push it 2 points higher.

...One of the lines is me outright saying "If you think I'm being serious, you don't know me very well :B." I don't think I've ever gotten seriously angry about anything in that channel, since, let's face it, it's just a bunch of derps derping around. We were talking about the Greece word for nude debating, you mentioned you had some weird homebrew stuff, and you wanted a neckbeard's review of it. I said I'd make it as terribly neckbeardy as I could, you said to go for it. Judging by the comments here on how terrible and nerdy it was, I'd say I more or less succeeded

I thought I was pretty open about thinking you're a dickhead. I posted the transcripts up there for a laugh (and to get a second opinion on the few non-flavour-text things mentioned), not as a way of poisoning people's opinions of a person they'd never met and probably never would (until now).

Well, I'm not sure why you think I'm a dickhead - we've never had an argument, and I've never insulted you or being a fuckhead about things - unless you think my tastes are so terrible that you just have to hate me for it. But eh, whatever. That's your opinion, I suppose. I just jumped in here to try and set the record straight.

[Koumei]

We've never gotten pissy about it, we agreed to go our seperate ways as far as tastes go. Or at least, that what I had assumed.

I take everything too personally. I have like half the people on the Den here on ignore. Unless given good reason to like someone, one little thing is enough for me to dislike them - long past forgetting the reason why.

...One of the lines is me outright saying "If you think I'm being serious, you don't know me very well :B." I don't think I've ever gotten seriously angry about anything in that channel, since, let's face it, it's just a bunch of derps derping around. We were talking about the Greece word for nude debating, you mentioned you had some weird homebrew stuff, and you wanted a neckbeard's review of it.

I recall it being:
1. I mentioned the Greece nude debating thing.
2. You tried to Google it to find the word.
3. You found this site and badmouthed it.
4. This led to a direct argument on whether I was a bad person for existing there and whether Frank is a scourge upon the Earth. Also, whether fixing the inherent problems of D&D is necessary/good/bad. (PS. I double dare you to say Fighters/Monks/whatever are fine, or that Rogues are great without Flasking, Magic Item abuse and hilarious Bonus Feats).
5. I decided to troll you to death with this, remembering how much you hated my Swashbuckler.

I said I'd make it as terribly neckbeardy as I could, you said to go for it. Judging by the comments here on how terrible and nerdy it was, I'd say I more or less succeeded :p

I can't remember that, but I'm willing to take your word for it.

unless you think my tastes are so terrible that you just have to hate me for it. But eh, whatever. That's your opinion, I suppose. I just jumped in here to try and set the record straight.

Well your tastes are pretty terrible. Like, "I'd never play a game he ran, because it couldn't fail to be bad" terrible.

But I went and publically listed everyone I hate, on sup/tg/, to help clear things up and be more upfront about it. And I still find it hilarious that I was apparently too subtle before. The list was pretty long though, it was suggested I shorten it to "the people I like".

Oh, and for the benefit of others still reading this, Symm wants it known that his asexuality and cancer are unrelated, and apparently he told me at least twice in the past.

[Mask_De_H]

Greetings Professor(9) and

Welcome to the Den. We will steal your car, burn your house, rape your wife, and kill your dog.

And then we will say mean things to or about you. On the internet.

-Username17

[Prak]

Haha, so this is what I find on goggling myself on a lark.

Solution: get a bigger web presence.

Is that what they're calling it now?

[Maxus]

An ear infection kept me up.

Valkyrie Paragon
"Sorry, I can't just point at that general and have him die in battle. I'm on leave for the next two hundred years."
"What!?"
"I had the vacation time built up after a couple of wars and babysitting the Einherjar for about five hundred years. He can still die, but we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. CHARGE!"

d10 HD
Good BAB
Good Fort and Reflex
Skill Points: 4+Int
Special: Must be female

1 +2 Str, Chooser of the Slain, Bearer of the Fallen
2 Post-Battle Booze-up, Runic Weapon
3 +2 Charisma, Valkyrie Captain

Weapon and Armor proficiencies: The Valkyrie paragons gain martial weapon proficency, and proficiency with light armor, medium armor, and shields (but not great shields).

Ability boosts: Valkyrie are strong and the leaders tend to have a certain force of personality. At levels 1 and 3, the Valkyrie Paragon has Strength and Charisma boosts, respectively.

Chooser of the Slain (Su): Valkyries are responsible for choosing those who die in battle. When a Valkyrie is not on the clock officially collecting souls of the slain on behalf of Valhalla, however, this talent is restrained to the Valkyrie being able to make defeat more likely. All opponents within 30' suffer a Morale Penalty to Attack Rolls, Damage Rolls, and Saves equal to 1/3 the character's level (round up).

Bearer of the Fallen (Ex): Long ago, the Valkyrie petitioned their masters for something to keep them from spending all week after a big battle -just- carrying away the Fallen. Their masters saw the sense in this, and granted Valkyrie an increased carrying capacity. A vakyrie's strength is considered 10 points higher for carrying capacity, and she also takes no penalty for a medium load. A heavy load penalizes her as if it were medium.

Post-battle Booze-up (Su): Another Valkyrie perk is having Platinum Membership for the Slippy Slippyssonssonsson Delivery Service.

At the end of a day on which the Valkyrie and her allies had a battle or accomplished a victory of any kind (battle, political out-maneuvering, doing some good in the world, other celebratory reasons) the Valkyrie Paragon may celebrate by spending 1d10 rounds in a summoning ritual involving looking goofy and awkward as she speaks to someone only she can hear and requests the booze-up.

When the ritual is over, food and drink arrives in 3d10 minutes, borne by a jaded and snarky Valkyrie riding an eight-legged horse. This functions as a Heroes' Feast without the poison immunity and appears as grilled or roasted meat, with cheese, vegetables, bread sticks (with honey-butter!) and beer. The beer is good beer (Milk and tea are available for the wimps). This is usable once a week, barring a particularly good day, in which it may be used again. If it takes a full thirty minutes to arrive, you get a free gold bracelet which, while non-magical, can be magicked up.

By arrangement with the Fates, the night of a Post-Battle Booze-Up is never interrupted by attack or nightmares, as heroes deserve a solid night of untroubled sleep sometimes.

Runic Weapon: The Valkyrie is gifted with a magic sword, spear, or axe (pick any martial type of these weapons) to help them choose the slain. Or make the slain, if push comes to shove. If striking someone with a Morale Penalty, it functions as a Bane weapon. This is called Bane (Wimps). The weapon itself is etched with nifty-looking runes. They translate to "Two for Flinching".

Valkyrie Captain: At level 3, the Valkyrie Paragon has been promoted to Captain and she gets a flying mount of a CR at least three less than her own. She may also trade in some of her Empusa Abilities (Sexy, Tiresome, and Refreshing) to gain the following:

-DR of X/-, with X as her character level.

-Fast healing of her character level/3 (round up).

-Valkyrie Armor. Treat as a magic Adamantine Breastplate with +1 and +5 benefits replaced by +2d6 damage when charging and +Xd6 electricity damage (X equal to her Charisma modifier) to melee attacks she makes (Su). The last ability amplifies the talent already within Valkyries, so it won't actually function for a non-Valkyrie.

[icyshadowlord]

That's a very nice Valkyrie paragon there. Are there gonna be Paragons to the good-aligned Empusae as well, like for the Eladrin and Archons? Also, I have seen that Prof.Cirno from above somewhere before...might have been the Paizo forums...and now I see how much of a fucking dick he is. So, no need to worry Koumei, you have a loyal fan of the Tomes and of your materials here who actually has more of a brain than that retard.

( I am so expecting him to respond to this, but knowing how he's been talking to others around here, I have nothing to worry about. )

[Maxus]

That's a very nice Valkyrie paragon there. Are there gonna be Paragons to the good-aligned Empusae as well, like for the Eladrin and Archons?

Maybe. I've got a use for them in upcoming games. I'll take a look and think about it.

[Maxus]

Did some thinking on this.

a Justice Archon Paragon would be pretty Detect-and-Smite. See Invisible, Danger Sense, continuing spellcasting and Smite Evil (or similar). And maybe a Ray of Light thing like a Lantern Archon.

I'd be tempted to just make an Eladrin paragon like the Angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Bayonetta--weird inhuman creatures that phase through walls and shoot lasers at you (read: Mild fortification, a feat or two for body-modification a la fiend feats, etc)

Anyone have any opinions?

[icyshadowlord]

I like the ideas you have presented. And of course, there is lots of potential joking on the Archon's attitude I can see there. And the Eladrin being mentioned alongside Neon Genesis Evangelion is as epic as it is creepy. As for the Bayonetta reference...heck yes!! Also, I forgot to ask people around here: How do you determine the Save DC against an Aranea's poison? (or any racial poison for that matter?)