Annoying Game Questions You Want Answered

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:17 am

I've played it, quite a while ago. I don't have the book to review, but basically... it very nearly almost has a system. I mean you have stats, in a broad sense - you have some basic numbers for "Bossing other PCs around when in your base", "Existing as a physical essence on the world", "really having the power of your aspect nailed down" and I think one other, and then you bullshit together some powers where you "do stuff".

At any point if you wish to know what a given rating means or what that "stuff" can have happen in the game, then fuck you, you're having a discussion about it.

People who like to wank on about NGS theory will tell you (if they consider themselves "N" or maybe "S" players and think you are also one of them and thus likely to be interested) how great it is because your imagination is the limit - in actual fact, the collective imagination of the table is the limit, or the limit is the lower of your imagination and that of the DM.

They will also boast about how "it's a game you can't min-max, munchkin or powergame!" Which is both wrong and also meaningless. In most cases, you can't do the above because everything on your sheet means wibble-wobble-woo. However, people generally consider "having big numbers in the base stats" better than "having the powers that let you do... stuff". Furthermore, whenever you're at the home base, you actually do get to compare cock length, and the winner slaps everyone else in the face with it.

That said, it's certainly interesting, and it's very pretty. Also, it actually treats the Powers (let's call them gods because it's close enough) as being strange beings that aren't really related to the mortal world.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:23 am

Yeah, I've read both editions books, but when I tried to gather a group on roll20 (I've even offered to be a MC HG!) people just stared at me blankly and shuffled away. I'm more interested as to how it plays.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:28 pm

Christ! Chuubo's Marvelous Wishgranting Engine is thousand pages long! Who would read a book this long?!

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:28 am

A question which arrose while writing the speedster: at what level is it appropriate to be Huge? Gargantuan? Colossal?

I'm guessing that it is perfectly fine to be smacking people with Large fists once a round around 3rd level, what with enlarge person being a first level spell and my general feeling that at will abilities should come online around two levels after spellcasters first get limited use of an equivalent spell. Technically, the rules support swing Huge weapons at people at eighth level as you can polymorph into a treant at that level. Then there's Giant Size, which I need to go look up.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:56 am

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:17 am

Ok, I'd already stuck "strike as if huge size, without the penalty" at 10th. I just stuck Gargantuan at 13th and Colossal at 16th. At 20th the speedster gets to do the whole "run around the earth and strike like a meteor" thing The Flash did in JLA against Luthor.

The ability raises weapon damage, and I just went ahead and did the increased strength because it's one strike per turn after a move action.

My next question is what to do about speed. Is it ever level appropriate to be able to walk 300' in a round?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:57 am

Depends on whether or not you have access to the "Move+Whirlwhind" ability. If moving that far merely lets you move really far when it's your turn, then you can make a really effective archer/gunner, to the point that Knife Man can't actually keep up (see: the horse archer "problem"). And... that's about it. Depending on whether you let them open doors as Free Actions, then yeah, they can go all about the place and generally it's useful.

If they can in fact attack everyone they threaten when doing this, then you get the problem where a 300' move speed likely gives you a bigger AoE effect than most actual AoE effects, and actually clearing a map in one turn can really piss everyone else off - all the little men were placed on rooftops by Mister Cavern, other players have plans... and then bam, you go first and kill everything.

Being able to charge people from "binoculars, please" range isn't really a bug, I think - assuming you can actually see them and draw a straight line anyway.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:32 am

Well, by giving appropriate effects to the class, I wrote a class that can do 600d6+120 (650d6 slashing, 50d6 electric) damage (plus normal strength) in what is, effectively, one round at 20th level. ...of course if they do this, they're doing 10d6 electric damage to everything in the 630' path they travel in each round, which should have consequences... but, they're 20th level. What consequences do they really care about?

I hadn't even thought about Whirlwind. I think I created a horrible, horrible class.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 4:30 pm

Prak_Anima wrote:I hadn't even thought about Whirlwind. I think I created a horrible, horrible class.

Does Pathfinder have a moving Whirlwind? I thought that was a Tome exclusive thing.

Roog · Post by **Roog** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:06 pm

The have a Bard spell that gives it. I'm not sure if there are other ways.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:44 pm

Found it: Greater Bladed Dash. You'd need to be 13th level Bard or Magus though.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:20 pm

No, whirlwind the feat. Pathfinder does have it, and it's a logical feat for them to take, as they already want to take Spring Attack so they can make the most use of Infinite Mass Punch.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:22 pm

Yes, but the feat doesn't let you move in between your attacks.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:24 pm

Oh, good, so the speedster isn't completely broken, just almost completely.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:30 am

Are there any weights for the tome armors? I'd like to pay lip service to encumbrance, but they don't have any listed weights at all.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:03 am

So, if I take a weasel, change it's type to Plant, and maybe give it a blood drain attack or something, what would the CR on that be? 1/3?

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:51 am

Going from Animal to Plant means gaining pile of immunities and going from a 1d3-4 bite to a 1d3-4 bite and 1d4 Con damage every round it's attached is a pretty fucking huge increase in offense. Admittedly, it still has just two hit points so any hit that connects is going to drop it, but there's a 1 in 3 chance of missing it at 1st level. I'd say CR 1/2, simply due to how gnarly ability damage is at low levels.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:54 am

Well, I converted the dire weasel over too, which has the blood drain (apparently normal weasels aren't big enough, or something), so I left off the blood drain for the normal weasels. We'll see how the players receive the vampire gourds tomorrow.

I did increase the reach for the normal "weasels" so they can attack adjacent targets.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:23 am

A stirge is CR 1/2, and a weasel that does some con damage is inferior in pretty much everyway. The real danger is mostly death by attrition, because low level characters cannot heal ability score damage as easily as they can HP damage.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:53 am

Did someone forget to pick their squash in time?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:14 pm

Prak_Anima wrote:We'll see how the players receive the vampire gourds tomorrow.

Make sure to then have some Ghost Brute ones.

codeGlaze · Post by **codeGlaze** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:44 pm

Longes wrote:Christ! Chuubo's Marvelous Wishgranting Engine is thousand pages long! Who would read a book this long?!

What.
The.
Fuck.

HOW did that raise $90K+ ?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:30 pm

TiaC wrote:Did someone forget to pick their squash in time?

It's really difficult to pick squash in time when a dryad's taken over your orchard and made a maze of wall of thorns throughout it.

Koumei wrote:Make sure to then have some Ghost Brute ones.

Now I'm kind of tempted to throw in a fire breathing phantom fungus...

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:54 pm

codeGlaze wrote:
Longes wrote:Christ! Chuubo's Marvelous Wishgranting Engine is thousand pages long! Who would read a book this long?!
What.
The.
Fuck.

HOW did that raise $90K+ ?

Pretension sells almost as well as sex sells.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:15 am

Therefore, we must make a kickstarter for overly pretentious porn.