Annoying Game Questions You Want Answered

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:53 am

Yeah, the Draconomicon has the dragonnel, 6HD, CR4, should have just given it a cold breath weapon and called it a silver dragon. That may be what I do for the knight who wants a gold dragon mount (I'm going to have him turn his horse into a dragon, so actually fits decently). So far, the dragon is, yes, a combat monster, with it's high strength, it's large size, and +5 BAB, it grapples pretty damned well. We'll see if that becomes a problem, and if so, I'll start throwing grapple monsters at the party to tie it up. Next adventure has them going into the wasteland that used to be the elven forest a century ago or more, and so is going to feature a bunch of corrupted natural monsters, like necromentals and undead petrified treants and such. After that, they head underground to find the dwarven tech and fight constructs and shit that will mostly all be custom made, so I can again give fights that don't end in "dragon grapples, flies up fifty feat, drops enemy"

The knight isn't getting his horse turned into a dragon until after the "revitalize the elven forest" adventure, at which point he'll be roughly Level 8 or so... so yeah, half dragon warhorse+HD or something.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:33 am

Is D&D's point buy system trademarked or whatever? Like, if I use it for another system that uses a similar range of ability scores and shit, and get it published, am I breaking any laws?

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:38 am

Is it conceivably possible for you to fund a legal battle against WotC even if it is legal?

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:00 pm

Meikle641 wrote:Is D&D's point buy system trademarked or whatever? Like, if I use it for another system that uses a similar range of ability scores and shit, and get it published, am I breaking any laws?

D&D's point buy system is NOT trademarked.

Usually, if something has a trademark you'll see a TM next to it, or possibly a R in a circle. The protections for trademarks and registered trademarks are extensive, and you don't want to deal with even the appearance of impinging on a trademark. Most trademarks are product names or well known slogans associated with the brand.

Copyright law is a whole different beast and much, much, murkier. The first thing you have to understand is that anyone can pretty much sue you at antyime for anything. For example, I could sue you for the death of my goldfish. Now, since I don't have a goldfish, and you couldn't POSSIBLY have had anything to do with its death, this is going to be thrown out by the courts pretty much immediately. But basically, if I can make an argument that you should be responsible in SOME way for the death of my goldfish, I can probably get it to court.

In this case, that means that if it looks like you MIGHT have infringed on a copyright, I can probably take you to court. Even if you end up winning, it's a major pain in the ass and you don't want to go there.

US Copyright Office wrote: What does copyright protect?
Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.

You can't copyright the 'point-buy system' because it's an idea. If you could, you wouldn't see it in other RPGs (and you do). Since other systems use point buy you're probably fine using it in your system, even if you publish it. But you have to make sure that the method you choose is not expressed in the same manner as the one in D&D.

For example, in D&D each stat starts with an 8, and you spend points to increase it. In Pathfinder it starts with a 10 and you spend points to increase it or get points back to decrease it... Functionally, they work the same way, but by starting at different values, the description is 'expressed differently', so it should be free from copyright infringement concerns. In your system, you might start with a different value (maybe 1 or 2) thus ensuring that you 'express' the point buy system differently than in a published or unpublished work by another party.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:56 am

What constitutes an "idea" and so what is or is not copyrightable is extremely unclear. That has been true since 1981, and the supreme court has done a terribad job of clarifying it.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:45 pm

Is there already a comparative analysis of 3.x action economy somewhere?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:51 pm

Two questions, one semi-rhetorical, the other practical:

1)What the hell kind of mindset led to D&D material writers thinking that things that had spells as main caster classes had a cr lower than their HD/what level they cast at? For example, I was typing a monster from an old book into my game wiki for easier use while running last night, and this creature with 10 HD cast as "a druid of level equal to it's HD and a sorcerer of level equal to half it's HD" and was CR 7. What the fuck?

2)How does one outline or structure a wilderness adventure so that it's not just "You guys travel x miles, *rollroll* and encounter a troglodyte"?

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:58 am

Prak_Anima wrote:Two questions, one semi-rhetorical, the other practical:

1) Retards. Complete retards.

2) You could describe terrains and sights as you travel. Have them roll to notice monster-signs to kind of foreshadow encounters so it doesn't seem totally ad-hoc'd and lame.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:37 am

erik wrote:Complete retards.

I don't remember that splat book, was it any good?

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:59 am

It had the Divine Mind. It wasn't.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:59 am

Sounds like Complete Psionic.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:22 am

Prak_Anima wrote:Sounds like Complete Psionic.

Oh really?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:49 am

Look at post times, that was in response to Koumei, it just hit at the same time as Captain T's

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:28 am

Prak_Anima wrote:
2)How does one outline or structure a wilderness adventure so that it's not just "You guys travel x miles, *rollroll* and encounter a troglodyte"?

Have a good description of the general terrain, and then have more interesting encounters than just straight-up combats. D&D doesn't handle non-combat encounters...Like, at all, though, so you'll probably have to house rule how to actually resolve things like "the bridge is out, you'll have to swim/find another way" (or whatever else would actually be appropriate for your level if your party is level 4+).

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:57 am

Prak_Anima wrote:Look at post times, that was in response to Koumei, it just hit at the same time as Captain T's

Oh, I see it, my bad.

Can I keep the comment there? I thought it was pretty witty...

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:52 pm

Chamomile wrote:
Prak_Anima wrote:
2)How does one outline or structure a wilderness adventure so that it's not just "You guys travel x miles, *rollroll* and encounter a troglodyte"?
Have a good description of the general terrain, and then have more interesting encounters than just straight-up combats. D&D doesn't handle non-combat encounters...Like, at all, though, so you'll probably have to house rule how to actually resolve things like "the bridge is out, you'll have to swim/find another way" (or whatever else would actually be appropriate for your level if your party is level 4+).

In addition, these kind of things can be fun if they involve a choice: try to swim the dangerous river, or take time to look for another bridge. Cut through the swamp or go around.

Of course, most of these types of things really only matter for low level groups. A lot of spells turn this sort of thing into flavor text at best.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:02 pm

Yeah, they're level 7 traipsing through magic tainted skull island to find the wasteland that the elven forest became after the elven goddess was killed, so environmental stuff isn't going to be holding them back much. Hell, the fact that one is a Tome Warmage alone means that a lot of assumptions about sailing change, since they don't have to worry about carrying rations or potable water.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:19 pm

The best 'road encounters' are actually side-treks. You can have a 'small adventure' - or even a well-developed encouter - that enlivens the journey. Rather, it 'interrupts' the journey. At least, assuming they deal with it.

On 'skull island', as they're walking around, you could have a 'Predator-type' monster that attacks at night, before being driven off (or killing someone). This would be especially effective if they have hirelings, since he can actually drag people off into the wilderness without removing your players from the game.

Or finding signs of recent camp sites might catch their attention, especially if it's a 'real dangerous place'. The thing that is surviving on the island can be a good thing (Newt from Aliens) or a bad thing (a deranged axe-murderer). Maybe the players don't investigate, but it might help foreshadow the next adventure... Depending on how they got on that island...

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 12:43 am

In the Underwater Combat section of the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm) there's a column on the chart for "Tail". What the hell is that even talking about? Is that a separate column for if you have a tail or not?

K · Post by K » Sun Jul 08, 2012 12:50 am

I think it's a separate column for tail attacks. Slashing/bludgeoning is -2 and half damage and piercing is normal, but apparently tail attacks work better underwater than other weapons if you have a swim speed.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:54 am

You also apparently get "normal" movement if you don't have a swim speed, didn't make your swim check, and don't have firm footing. But "normal" in that case is just "you can't move", so they should say that. I hate that whole chart.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:45 am

While we're on the subject of DnD3e/3.5/Tome questions: Is it generally permissible to make a Move Silently check while casting a spell with a Verbal component to do so quietly?

To cast a spell with a verbal (V) component, your character must speak in a firm voice. If you're gagged or in the area of a Silence spell, you can't cast such a spell. A spellcaster who has been deafened has a 20% chance to spoil any spell he tries to cast if that spell has a verbal component.

"must speak in a firm voice" doesn't really mean that you have to be yelling, just that you have to be able to potentially be yelling. So maybe a check at -10 or -20 or something like with Sniping for Hide?

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:45 pm

Hearing someone talking is DC zero listen check +1 per 10 ft away... I dunno how MS gets you out of that.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 2:51 pm

erik wrote:Hearing someone talking is DC zero listen check +1 per 10 ft away... I dunno how MS gets you out of that.

Sometimes people just really want to cheat, so they make up whatever dumb excuse they can think of.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:59 pm

Well, whispering is DC 10 instead. Folks whisper spells while trying to hide in shows and movies all the time, so it seems reasonable. I'll probably write it into part of a scaling feat if the player wants to do it in the future.