Annoying Game Questions You Want Answered

General questions, debates, and rants about RPGs

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

What is Paizo's justification to make the soulbound doll a CR 2 creature? It's worse than an imp in essentially every conceivable way.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
Whiysper
Master
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:43 am

Post by Whiysper »

total bloody incompetence? The dearth of good guidelines on how to judge CR? Aliens?
User avatar
SlyJohnny
Duke
Posts: 1418
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:35 pm

Post by SlyJohnny »

It's still immune to a bunch of random things for being a construct, I guess?

I mean, you'd still prefer an imp.
Axebird
Master
Posts: 201
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:51 am

Post by Axebird »

There's a vanishingly tiny chance one specific type of them lands deep slumber on a party and they all die to coup de graces?

Dunno. Supposedly Paizo uses a giant spreadsheet to calculate all their monster stats, but either their sheet sucks or it doesn't exist considering how often they publish stuff like this.
User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

SlyJohnny wrote:It's still immune to a bunch of random things for being a construct, I guess?

I mean, you'd still prefer an imp.
Especially since it doesn't even have immunity to mind-affecting like constructs normally do.
Axebird wrote:Dunno. Supposedly Paizo uses a giant spreadsheet to calculate all their monster stats, but either their sheet sucks or it doesn't exist considering how often they publish stuff like this.
There's their official monster stat chart, but it feels like a small minority of official monsters actually follow their guidelines.
Last edited by virgil on Thu Apr 13, 2017 12:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

Do you have to be properly hiding to use the sniping rules? For example, your assassin is dressed as a beggar in a crowded street and is plainly visible. Can said assassin palm a shuriken and throw it at someone with the -20 Hide penalty to make it so nobody noticed that they threw it?
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
Orca
Knight-Baron
Posts: 877
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:31 am

Post by Orca »

virgil wrote:
Axebird wrote:Dunno. Supposedly Paizo uses a giant spreadsheet to calculate all their monster stats, but either their sheet sucks or it doesn't exist considering how often they publish stuff like this.
There's their official monster stat chart, but it feels like a small minority of official monsters actually follow their guidelines.
Very small. Someone compiled a spreadsheet of monsters from the bestiaries, and the statistics derived from that do not match the official monster guidelines.[/i]
User avatar
Stahlseele
King
Posts: 5974
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:51 pm
Location: Hamburg, Germany

Post by Stahlseele »

After having spent the better part of 15 hours playing it again last friday, anybody ever managed to find a good way to somehow speed up ClassicBattleTech somehow?
Welcome, to IronHell.
Shrapnel wrote:
TFwiki wrote:Soon is the name of the region in the time-domain (familiar to all marketing departments, and to the moderators and staff of Fun Publications) which sees release of all BotCon news, club exclusives, and other fan desirables. Soon is when then will become now.

Peculiar properties of spacetime ensure that the perception of the magnitude of Soon is fluid and dependent, not on an individual's time-reference, but on spatial and cultural location. A marketer generally perceives Soon as a finite, known, yet unspeakable time-interval; to a fan, the interval appears greater, and may in fact approach the infinite, becoming Never. Once the interval has passed, however, a certain time-lensing effect seems to occur, and the time-interval becomes vanishingly small. We therefore see the strange result that the same fragment of spacetime may be observed, in quick succession, as Soon, Never, and All Too Quickly.
Emerald
Knight-Baron
Posts: 565
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:18 pm

Post by Emerald »

virgil wrote:Do you have to be properly hiding to use the sniping rules? For example, your assassin is dressed as a beggar in a crowded street and is plainly visible. Can said assassin palm a shuriken and throw it at someone with the -20 Hide penalty to make it so nobody noticed that they threw it?
You actually can Hide from someone not in the crowd in that instance, as per the Rules Compendium:
RC 92 wrote:Blend into a Crowd: You can use the Hide skill to blend into a crowd, but doing so conceals you only from someone scanning the area to find you. You remain visible to everyone around you, and if they happen to be hostile, they’re likely to point you out.
RC 97 wrote:Tailing someone still requires cover or concealment, as normal for attempting a Hide check. A moderately crowded street provides sufficient cover and concealment to accomplish this goal.
Preventing people in the crowd from noticing isn't covered, and seems more like a Sleight of Hand sort of task (for which I unfortunately couldn't find a rules citation).
User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

I was going to ask a few questions concerning the limits/rules of the commune spell, but then I realized it's essentially a poorly written MTP spell. And so, I'm going to rephrase the question - how do you adjudicate this spell? Do you specify whether any particular answers are given by the deity or its agents? What are common limits of knowledge you ascribe to the spell's source (or the spell itself)? Do you permit spells such as nondetection and other anti-divination magic to work?
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
User avatar
tussock
Prince
Posts: 2937
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:28 am
Location: Online
Contact:

Post by tussock »

Commune is where the player gets to have a game of 20 questions with the DM.

The DM uses this to tell them whatever they need to know to get on with the game, and maybe twist things a bit if it suits the deity's wants.

By the divine rules, Deities can see anything that is not blocked by a Deity of equal or higher rank. Only, like, one new place per round, and only if within a few miles of a worshipper, and they automatically know everything related to their portfolio if they're rank 11+ (which all the PHB gods are). Basically they know where shit is and will play yes/no until you do too.

Also of note, Deities can totally just tell their worshippers stuff relevant to their portfolio at any time. It's part of the official 3e game that your Cleric will be told stuff by their Deity as needed to preserve fair contests of strength, or the secrets of magic, or whatever.
PC, SJW, anti-fascist, not being a dick, or working on it, he/him.
User avatar
Prak
Serious Badass
Posts: 17339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Prak »

Magic Modern Format Question: Is there some way to go infinite with Nest of Scarabs/Hapatra in Modern? Ideally it'd be something like "sacrifice a creature: put a -1/-1 counter on target creature" but if there's some combination of cards that effectively turns into that, that could work as well.

Edit:
I found a clunky way to do it-
Set up:
ImageImageImage
Have Nest of Scarabs in play, AE to make Basal Sliver and Nest of Scarabs work together. Target either.

Work:
ImageImage
Enchant Grim Poppet with Torture. Remove one of it's -1/1 counters to put one on something elese, get a scarab. Sac the scarab, get BB, put a -1/1 on Grim Poppet. Repeat until your opponent has no creatures.

Absurd Add On:
Image
Instead of the Poppet, you can sac all your scarabs to play a huge Black Sun's Zenith, killing your opponent's creatures and getting X scarabs for each of them.
Last edited by Prak on Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
User avatar
Ice9
Duke
Posts: 1568
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Ice9 »

Two Nests and one Blowfly Infestation, then just keep targeting the scarab tokens until you have as many as desired. You will need a Toughness 2+ creature to end the loop though, Infestation isn't optional.
Last edited by Ice9 on Mon May 01, 2017 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Username17
Serious Badass
Posts: 29894
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Username17 »

Ice9 wrote:Two Nests and one Blowfly Infestation, then just keep targeting the scarab tokens until you have as many as desired. You will need a Toughness 2+ creature to end the loop though, Infestation isn't optional.
Blowfly Infestation, Scarab Nest, and Blood Artist works as well. As soon as anything dies you repeatedly make Scarabs by killing Scarabs and gain infinite life and your opponent loses infinite life.

-Username17
User avatar
Prak
Serious Badass
Posts: 17339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Prak »

So, here's the decklist I worked up for that.

It had a splash of green for Hapatra, but she's not super necessary. Testing it on TappedOut, I found that I don't get the combo pieces reliably. So there are fourish slots that need to be filled. What would be good ways to fill those slots and get the combo pieces more reliably?
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
Schleiermacher
Knight-Baron
Posts: 666
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:39 am

Post by Schleiermacher »

It had a splash of green for Hapatra, but she's not super necessary. Testing it on TappedOut, I found that I don't get the combo pieces reliably. So there are fourish slots that need to be filled. What would be good ways to fill those slots and get the combo pieces more reliably?
Read the Bones? Or just Diabolic Tutor but at CMC 4 with no acceleration that seems kind of slow.

I was going to ask though -why are you running 2 Ruthless Sniper? I would think a deck like this wants either 0 or 4. Definitely seems like a better 1-drop than Torture.
User avatar
Prak
Serious Badass
Posts: 17339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Prak »

Ruthless Sniper was put in as a way to start the scarab engine once the pieces are out, but it requires cycling cards to make it work. Torture is a more reliable way to start the engine, but also is essentially 3 mana...
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

I had no idea that shadow evocation was as restricted as it is. It's written that objects automatically save to disbelieve, and nondamaging effects do nothing against disbelievers. Even if you did a bunch of gnomish shadow magic to make it 100%+ real, ice wall does nothing against ranged attacks or creatures who make their save. Heck, it's doubtful a caster can fail to disbelieve their own spell, and thus not be able to utilize any of the personal buff spells of evocation.
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
User avatar
Ice9
Duke
Posts: 1568
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by Ice9 »

It's pretty badly written also:
Spells that deal damage have normal effects unless an affected creature succeeds on a Will save. Each disbelieving creature takes only one-fifth damage from the attack. If the disbelieved attack has a special effect other than damage, that effect is one-fifth as strong (if applicable) or only 20% likely to occur. If recognized as a shadow evocation, a damaging spell deals only one-fifth (20%) damage. Regardless of the result of the save to disbelieve, an affected creature is also allowed any save (or spell resistance) that the spell being simulated allows, but the save DC is set according to shadow evocation’s level (5th) rather than the spell’s normal level.

Nondamaging effects have normal effects except against those who disbelieve them. Against disbelievers, they have no effect.

Objects automatically succeed on their Will saves against this spell.
So is it 20% likely to occur, or no effect?

Also, it repeats itself for no reason:
Spells that deal damage have normal effects unless an affected creature succeeds on a Will save. Each disbelieving creature takes only one-fifth damage from the attack.
If recognized as a shadow evocation, a damaging spell deals only one-fifth (20%) damage.
Shadow Conjuration doesn't have the contradictory "no effect" part, so with that one it's always 20% chance for non-damage effects. Except for summoned creatures, which always exist but have 20% of their normal HP.

I've been in campaigns that used them, but I think we must have applied some mind-caulk without even realizing it.
Last edited by Ice9 on Tue May 02, 2017 11:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
DSMatticus
King
Posts: 5271
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:32 am

Post by DSMatticus »

By the tightest possible reading, the "the disbelieved attack" in sentence 2 is likely referring back to the "spells that deal damage" in sentence 1.

I.e. if you cast a spell that deals damage, disbelieving creatures take one-fifth damage. If that damaging spell has an effect other than damage, that effect is one-fifth as strong or only 20% likely to occur against disbelieving creatures. Separately, if you cast a spell that does not deal damage, it has no effect on disbelieving creatures.

I would not be surprised if I were the first person on the planet to deliberately read it that way. It's a little absurd; "the target creature is dealt 1 force damage and stunned for 1 round" has a 20% chance of stunning a disbelieving target, while "the target creature is stunned for 1 round" has a 0% chance of stunning a disbelieving target. I don't think anyone would naturally arrive at that meaning from a casual reading. It's just too obviously dumb.
Last edited by DSMatticus on Wed May 03, 2017 12:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Schramm
NPC
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:12 pm

Post by Schramm »

Stahlseele wrote:After having spent the better bathmate results part of 15 hours playing it again last friday, anybody ever managed to find a good way to somehow speed up ClassicBattleTech somehow?
No it takes forever.
Last edited by Schramm on Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
virgil
King
Posts: 6339
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by virgil »

I want a monster that eats thoughts & mental energy, but I don't want to deal ability damage or the like outright. Having it consume a spell slot or power points from casters at first is fine, but I'm specifically trying to figure out an alternative to the Intelligence damage. Perhaps it could make the target drunk for a time, or perhaps some other condition/debuff? Or is all of that too complex, and should I just have it hurt people and label the attack as dealing psychic damage?
Come see Sprockets & Serials
How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
User avatar
Stahlseele
King
Posts: 5974
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:51 pm
Location: Hamburg, Germany

Post by Stahlseele »

Schramm wrote:
Stahlseele wrote:After having spent the better part of 15 hours playing it again last friday, anybody ever managed to find a good way to somehow speed up ClassicBattleTech somehow?
No it takes forever.
Yes.
I realize that.
Especially the 15 hour doubleblind . .
I just had hoped for there to be a way to somehow speed it up a bit <.<
Welcome, to IronHell.
Shrapnel wrote:
TFwiki wrote:Soon is the name of the region in the time-domain (familiar to all marketing departments, and to the moderators and staff of Fun Publications) which sees release of all BotCon news, club exclusives, and other fan desirables. Soon is when then will become now.

Peculiar properties of spacetime ensure that the perception of the magnitude of Soon is fluid and dependent, not on an individual's time-reference, but on spatial and cultural location. A marketer generally perceives Soon as a finite, known, yet unspeakable time-interval; to a fan, the interval appears greater, and may in fact approach the infinite, becoming Never. Once the interval has passed, however, a certain time-lensing effect seems to occur, and the time-interval becomes vanishingly small. We therefore see the strange result that the same fragment of spacetime may be observed, in quick succession, as Soon, Never, and All Too Quickly.
Hadanelith
Master
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:26 pm

Post by Hadanelith »

There are a variety of computer versions of BT that speed things up dramatically. But for an actual tabletop experience? Nope, that just takes forever.
User avatar
saithorthepyro
Master
Posts: 265
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:39 pm

Post by saithorthepyro »

Yeah, agreeing with above. Megamek does a decent job, but otherwise you should just use the simplified rules they publish, but then you lose out on the immersion of CBT. There's really no way to do one without getting rid of the other.
Post Reply