The Cranky Gamer

I haven't talked much here about my love of Hackmaster... I have some game summaries I can post... but Kenzer has a great deal to get you involved in Hackmaster that I wanted to share:

http://www.kenzerco.com/product_info.php?products_id=808

5 copies of Hackmaster Basic for $25. With Shipping and Handling, you're looking at less than $40 for five copies of a complete game (including magic items, monsters, and with access to free scenarios).

So, believe it or not, my favorite class in 3.5/PF is a bard. I am not playing a bard in our current PF game, but that is because I'm trying to be different for once (so I am playing a half-giant Psychic Warrior named "Griselda"; she's pretty much Xena with a giant hammer).

However, I've made frequent arguments on message boards on why bards are awesome. Since I always lose them, I'm going to link several things (so I can find them again), and copy the text here (because I love them so much)

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Bards are awesome out of the box. In terms of skills and spells, they are the ultimate team player. Their abilities are designed around making sure that everyone else can do things better. And they don't need much in the way of feats to pull it off, either.

Inspire Courage. It makes everyone hit more often, and hit harder. It adds that extra pep to a critical, that extra half-inch that turns a miss into a hit, and that little touch that keeps everyone stalwart in battle. No party should be without it. A bard Inspiring courage makes everyone with a 3/4 BAB fight like they almost have a 1/1 BAB... without the need for DMM cheese, which only helps one person.

Inspire Competence. Every need something done right the first time? That's Inspire Competence.

Countersong. May not come up often, but how many times has your bard saved the party from harpies or shriekers? Every time you've had a bard and encountered harpies or shriekers.

Fascinate. Way under-utilized. Any time you need a distraction to get into position, a bard is BUILT for distraction. Plus, it leads to suggestion, which is also awesome.

Bardic Knowledge. Ever run into a problem that no one has a knowledge skill applicable? The bard does. He's been putting ranks into it simply by virtue of being a bard. A bard of 8th level or higher with a +2 intelligence has a chance of knowing the most obscure of information... and he doesn't need the +2 intelligence if he put 5 ranks (just 5 ranks!) in History. If he has both, he can start learning these things at 6th level.

Combat. Bards get proficiency with the whip, which is awesome. Why? Because you can trip people from the 2nd line. Whips are cheap... if you fail to trip the person, drop it and pull another one. Tripping also ignores damage resistance, and lets the rogue sneak attack people. Want to know what bards do best? They make other people better. How can a bard do that? Flank + Aid Another + Inspire Courage. +5 to hit at 1st level. If the bard goes with Combat Expertise (which, given the usefulness of tripping, isn't a bad idea), he can go heavy on the defense through CE, still pull off the AC 10 hit for Aid Another, and make sure that the fighter hits all the time. That +5 to hit? It turns the fighter's 2nd attack into something equal to his 1st attack. If he was going to hit once, he likely hits twice. If he was going to hit twice, he likely hits a 3rd time. And he's wearing Mithril Breastplate that he made and enchanted himself while doing it, because he's that awesome. After all, a Mithril breastplate can be made with a mere 5 ranks in Craft: Armorer... and a bard can poop 5 skill points and still have more to spread around that level.

Spells. Bard spells are fantastic. They may not get them as fast as wizards or sorcerers, but they're still wicked useful to an intelligent player. Of course, many spells they have are shared with other classes, but the most valuable resource in 3.x is actions... anything your bard is doing, someone else doesn't have to be.

1st level spells? You know that Grease that everyone loves to talk about? Bards get that. They get Sleep, the earliest save or die spell. They get Cure Light Wounds... and while people pooh-pooh combat healing, the ability to stop someone from dying is seldom disliked. Oh, and remember when your fighter ran away from combat, because he got feared? The bard can stop that. And make someone laugh until you kill them.
2nd level spells? Sound Burst, a great area-affect save-or-suck. Glitterdust. One of my favorites is heroism... enough to give anyone a boost, and one of the longer-lasting buffs available at 10/min/level. Slap your fighter on the back and send him in to win one for the Gipper... with a bard on his side, he will.
3rd level spells? Earliest access to Charm Monster... same character level as wizards, but an earlier spell level. Geasa. Haste. Glibness, which is what lets you pull off anything you need to... you can't match the bonus granted by Glibness until 27th level... and it lasts for more than an hour when you first get it. At 12th level, it lasts for 2 hours... a bard who wanted to could keep it going for 6 hours without dipping into his bonus spells. At 18th level, you can have a +30 to bluff checks for 12 hours a day... Sure, you don't have any 3rd level spell slots (except for bonus slots), but with a +51 to bluff... enough that you can display a false alignment, or fairly easily implant suggestions in your target. And you can pull suggestions off at 7th level (when your bluff modifier under Glibness is 40+Charisma mod).
4th level. Bards get Freedom of Movement. Wizards don't. With Shadow Conjuration, a bard can cast any wizard conjuring spell of 3rd level or less. A bard can put Dominate Person into a wand... a wizard can't. A bard can put Legend Lore into a wand... a wizard can't. Break enchantment they can put in a wand... wizards and clerics can't. And they have dimension door, too. Oh, and Mass Suggestion. Combine that with Glibness to make everyone believe everything. As Lincoln said, "You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but a bard can fool everyone until his spell slots run out."
5th level. Need an Evocation spell? How about Shadow Evocation? Not quite as real, but just as effective if you don't give them a chance to think about it. Mass cure light wounds... useful for trashing undead or for bringing everyone up from the brink at the same time (and why not cast it while under a under a Greater Invisibility)? Oh, and if a bard's 5th level mass transit spell messes up, you're lost. If a wizard's 5th level mass transit spell messes up, you're stuck in a mountain. Song of Discord, which makes your enemies fight each other? Bard-exclusive.

Please note, everything before this notice is core-only; nothing other than www.d20srd.com as a source No supplements. Nothing 3rd party. The most exotic I got was mentioning some things out of the Epic-Level Handbook. Those who insist bards aren't awesome are not playing a team game... they're trying to win D&D by making the most powerful character possible. Bards make sure the team wins... not by smashing everything in their path. Not by using broken spell combinations. Not even using a single splatbook. They make the team win by simply making sure that EVERYONE is better.

Bards are awesome. They are the sum total of everything every party needs.

Some bardy suggestions:

The Summoner. While Druids are usually thought of as summoners, a Bard who invests in Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning can sling the monsters with the best of them. And, given that the bard has Speak Language as a class skill, he can likely talk to any of them (everything with the celestial and fiendish templates has an intelligence of 3, and can therefore understand at least 1 language). Summon them, use bardsong to buff them further. If you have Melodic Casting, summon more while buffing the first set, and your second set will also be buffed. Drown your opponents in Celestial Badgers.

The Combat Aide. Take buff spells. Aid Another. Trip people. Since you can't use a shield and cast, put a whip in your off-hand, and a rapier in your main hand. With Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Weapon Finesse you can make sure that no humanoid keeps its feet, and all your allies hit them again and again.

The Knowledge-maven. Put points into every knowledge skill. You may not be able to use an Archivist's Dark Knowledge, but you can tell everyone the weaknesses of the the monster, the common places for secret doors in dwarven ruins of this time period, the tenets of the religion of the guys you're fighting, and how to make your way back to the surface without getting lost. Learn every language. Put points into Decipher Script and start writing things in code.
***
You obviously missed the memo: Bards are awesome. Beguilers have scabies.
***
Those who are jealous of a bard's awesome quotient frequently dismiss them as "signing". Bards need not sing.

Bards can dance... and with Tumble and Improved Unarmed Strike, they are practicing Capoeria.

Bards can use the drums... and light maces + percussion skill + two-weapon fighting is a nasty-fun combination.

Bards can orate. Don't believe that's effective? Listen to the St. Crispin's Day speech (especially with a Ghost-sound provided orchestra rising the background) and don't get stirred.

Bards can do comedy. A bard who tells puns, inspiring his allies to hit people harder.

Bards can chant, and that's a freaky one. A bunch of dwarves, lead by their bard, each chanting in unison. "I wanna be a dwarven fighter/smashing orcs and other blighters."

Bards can use stringed instruments. Bards with high enough ranks in Fiddle automatically have a golden fiddle.1

More importantly, though, bards tell stories. Bards tell the stories of our adventures, they tell stories about their unending fidelity, and they tell stories about your fighters hygeine that have to be smelled to believe. What do beguilers do? It's right in the name: they lie. Beguilers lie like dogs, and cannot be trusted. They use the fact that Wizards, bereft of any remaining awesome (having spent it ALL on bards), were forced to give beguilers mechanical crutches to get around the fact that they lie and they smell funny. And carry diseases.

It is well known that bards are all fantastically endowed paragons of their gender, while beguilers are lying, disease-ridden deviates... and not even the fun kind of deviates. The kind of deviates that even make Blackguards go "That dude has something seriously wrong with him." And I'm not talking pansy blackguards. I'm talking the kind of blackguards who were paladins until they tasted their first baby and said "Yum. I think I'll eat more of these."

So play a bard. Because bards are awesome. And beguilers cheat at cards. ALL THE TIME.



1Golden fiddle not included. Offer void in certain Crystal Spheres. Consult your local overdeity for details.
***
Truthfully, I've seldom had a problem with making a bard useful, even sticking with just core. They're seldom powerhouses, but I've seldom had a problem with them being "useful". IME, being a bard is not about saying "I killed everything" or even "I charmed our way out of the problem" but, instead "I provided the little extra that pushed us to the top." My bard frequently has the highest damage total in the game... because every hit with Bardic Music adds 1 or more to my total, and if they only hit because I gave them a +1, I claim it all.

A few, core-only, tricks:

1) You don't need a lot of charisma compared to other casters. It's nice, but in a point-buy system, you can skimp on it; a 15 initially, going up from there with improvements, is adequate. For Charisma skills, the skill points quickly outstrip the bonus, even at an 18, so having a point or two lower doesn't hurt that much... and having more points elsewhere is great.
My newest bard, in Pathfinder, has a 15 Cha, an 8 Wisdom, a 12 Int, and 16s in Strength, Dex, and Con... though, without his racial adjustments, he'd have 14s in Dex and Con. If I were going a knowledge-type bard, I'd pump intelligence at the expense of Charisma, but this is more of a fighty bard. Avoid having any big penalties... a bard can survive a -1 on a stat, but a -2 on any stat is bound to mess them up in their trick of "Anything you can do, I can do kinda... I can do everything kinda, can you?"

2) With a lower charisma, choose your spells wisely. Choose spells that don't have a save, but still help your party. For a fighty bard, Summon Monster means something to flank with you. Cure Light Wounds is great at low levels, when HPs are a bit more precious. Grease is useful even with your lower save numbers, because they have to make the save again and again. Remove Fear is a buff that keeps your low will save fighters from fleeing when you need them most. None of these are uber-powerful, especially with your saves, but they provide that little bit extra from low-level spells. For 2nd level, look at Heroism, Mirror Image, the ever-popular Glitterdust, Invisibility, and Summon Swarm... things without saves (Glitterdust avoids blinding by saving, but will outline invisible creatures no matter what), that help incrementally. Wizards rule the save-or-suck field... you make sure that everyone gets the job done.

3) Skill points are your friend. Use Magic Device is a fun skill to have, and lets you fill almost any role necessary with a relatively easy check... a 14 or better at 1st level (assuming a +2 attribute and a +4 from skill... by 5th level, it's a 10 or better). Once you get some money in, live off wands... high-level gear is great, but with wands, you can spam the heck out of lower-level spells. Don't neglect knowledge skills... a little bit of knowledge, combined with Bardic Knowledge, will let you get away with a lot.
Branch out in your skills, as well. Bards should be the member in the party that everyone looks at and says "Ok, how the heck do we do this", and answer "I put skill points in Use Rope just for this purpose!" Spend the points to be trained in almost everything, just so you can use them when the time arises.
This is the opposite of what almost everyone else will tell you. "Find you thing and specialize in it." Do that. But also generalize. Throw a point or two into everything. Take feats that let you do this cheaply. Take "Open Minded", which gives you a few skill points to throw into things. If you don't say "Dammit, I need a few more skill points" every time you level up, you're not playing a bard.... you're playing a set of skills that happens to coincide with bards.
Oh, and be a synergy whore. The way synergy is set up, putting 5 ranks into some skills is like getting a free feat (one of the skill-improving ones, but still... it's a free feat). And even if you never spend another point on those skills, you're skill reaping the benefit of those bonuses.
And languages! Throw point after point into languages. Why? Because DMs, being tricksy creatures, like to throw in puzzles like "Speak 'friend' and enter", written in Infernal... and if ANYONE in the party should know what word in Infernal corresponds to "friend", it should be the bard. (Incidentally, the word is Krz'dn'chk, which means "Being who is too powerful for you to beat, but thinks you might be useful at some later point, and so is not going to destroy you now unless you tick him off." Place emphasis on the silent [AND INVISIBLE!] z, and you'll have it right; otherwise, you refer to yourself as a cheese blintz.)
Oh, and just so you know, your performance should be something that doesn't require an instrument... singing or chanting are popular. Yes, there are great magical musical instruments, and you may want to consider getting some skill in instruments, but in your "building phase", sticking with one, no-instrument-required Performance skill helps you quite a bit, as you can fight and music at the same time.

4) Feats and fighting. I've already stated my love for a variety of feats which give you additional skill points or skill options. Also look into some useful fighty feats. My Pathfinder Bard is taking advantage of Pathfinder's version of Arcane Strike (swift action to add +1 damage/5 levels and overcome Magic DR for 1 rnd); you might want to look into Power Attack (using your longsword in two hands), or the Improved Trip line of feats (making use of your Whip proficiency).
Since you don't have longbows, you might want to throw in Rapid Reload for a crossbow, but that's a bit much... too pricey, since you want more skill points, and better ways to use them. Point Blank shot is great if you start getting ranged touch attack wands, and Precise shot makes everyone happy.
You don't have as good of bonuses as the fighter-types. Run with it. While you're singing, flank and Aid Another. You just added +5 to hit (at first level), letting the fighter power attack more effectively. Trip people, so the rogue can sneak attack them. Cast Light on their codpiece, so the wizard (who didn't bother to memorize light, and can't see in the dark because he's a human for that extra feat) can target them more effectively. If you don't want to touch them, cast light on an arrow and shoot it at their shield.
Being a bard in combat is NOT about winning the fight single-handedly. It's about doing all the miscellaneous actions that makes sure that your party wins.

5) Stealing the spotlight. Ok, so far I've put the bard forth as kind of like a non-DMM cleric-y type... all helping others to do the things they do best, but better. Where does being a bard mean you get to shine? There are a few places where a bard is the hero of the day.

a) Social situations. These are almost self-evident, but bards have the skills to pull off the social stuff. You have the skill points to dump into these things, especially after you've abused synergy like it's a 3rd world nation. If your bard can pull off his music, you can even make your allies semi-competent in these things, via Inspire Competence.

b) Background and other information. Need to know which king is buried here? The bard knows, or can find out. Need to know the secret weakness of the Troll of Crag Keep? The bard has heard a rumor. Need to know what the heck that thing flying at you is? The bard's got a theory. This is not just Bardic Knowledge, but all your other knowledge skills combined. Be aggressive in using knowledge skills. Don't wait for the DM to say "Roll Knowledge: Arcana", especially if you've been skimping on your Knowledge: Arcana. Say "Since this thing has been sealed up for thousands of years, does Knowledge: History give me anything? What about Knowledge: Religion, since there was that big seal of Kord on the door? And Bardic Knowledge?" Do this with EVERY skill that might be appropriate, every time one might be appropriate.

c) When you get back to town. Remember, you are the one who tells everyone the tales of adventure. You figure prominently in every tale. Your name is the one that comes up the most in the songs. When people from far away hear about your party, they say "Aren't you 'Bard and Company'", not "Aren't you that adventuring group who contains a number of important people?" When you write the songs, THEY ARE YOUR LACKEYS.
Also, of course, the bard is the one who knows what everything is, how much it is worth, and how to get the best rewards.

Ok, I'm tired of telling you why bards are awesome. Just remember the key rules: Be aggressively helpful in your play. Be usefully self-aggrandizing. Brag humbly about the awesome that you let everyone else do, simply because they associate with you and YOU MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Everything you do should serve to make other people better, and make the entire party better... but if you're sitting the in back casting spells, instead of suggesting what skills would be best here, telling everyone about this monster and who designed this dungeon and why that's useful, and figuring out how to duct-tape the thief to a catapult so he doesn't fly TOO far when you shoot him over the gorge, then play a sorcerer or a namby-pamby wizard. Bards are people who DO things. They make things happen. They don't sit around and wait for the opportunity to cast a world-shattering spell... they make an opportunity to cast a low-level spell that's just as effective.

Bards are made of pure, concentrated awesome. The only time they run out is when they stop doing things and coming up with suggestions on how they can best solve any problem that comes up.
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While they don't get spell power or anything off of it, I'd disagree that they have no in-class use for Int.

1) Bardic Knowledge. Depending on your DM, this is a GREAT ability.
2) Skills. A large number of their skills rely on Int... like the knowledge skills line.
3) Language. Bards with high Intelligences speak more languages and I've had at least one DM say "Normally I'd make you justify why your character speaks X, but, what the heck, he's a bard."
4) Skill points as ends in and of themselves. Bards having tons of different skills, at low levels, is not necessarily a bad thing. While they have a few they should specialize in, having a couple "wherever" points every level makes for a versatile bard.
***
remember the other side of UMD: the "randomly throw switches" effect of magic item use. The "I stole this wand from the bad guys, let's try using it on them." The "Sure, I'm not a virgin elven female cleric... but I can put myself in a mindset that will fool this ancient magic."

I steadfastly refuse to apologize to Aqua for this one. Not gonna make me do it.


I'm a HM gurl in the Garweeze Wurld
Shapes of plastic, Dice Fantastic!
You can rush a lair, or fight some bugbears
Imagination, the game is your creation

Come on Draper, it's a caper

I'm a HM gurl in the Garweeze Wurld
Shapes of plastic, Dice Fantastic!
You can rush a lair, or fight some bugbears
Imagination, the game is your creation

I'm a third level thief, I can't get no relief
Traps and locks, orcs and rocs, I'm a dodgin'
You're my gawd, dice that roll, watch me shimmy and shake
Help me here, heal me there, Thanky-thanky

You can crouch… you can pray…
You can hope I get the door

I'm a HM gurl in the Garweeze Wurld
Shapes of plastic, Dice Fantastic!
You can rush a lair, or fight some bugbears
Imagination, the game is your creation

Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!

Ain't no lock, ain't no trap, I do whatever I please
I can take all the loot, 'less you beg on your knees
Or you tank, then I'll thank you for saving my bank
Spells that heal, make 'em squeal, make me happy

You can crouch… you can pray…
You can hope I get the door
You can crouch… you can pray…
You can hope I get the door

Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!

I'm a HM gurl in the Garweeze Wurld
Shapes of plastic, Dice Fantastic!
You can rush a lair, or fight some bugbears
Imagination, the game is your creation

I'm a HM gurl in the Garweeze Wurld
Shapes of plastic, Dice Fantastic!
You can rush a lair, or fight some bugbears
Imagination, the game is your creation

Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Ha Ha Ha, Yeah
Come on Draper, it's a caper, Oooh oh! Oooh oh!

So, I posted this to the various brain droppings sites:

I have an odd idea for a campaign setting... the misbegotten child of Gamma World, Trigun and Spelljammer/old science fiction.

I've got about 20 minutes till I have to sign in at work, so I figured I'd throw up some of the preliminary ideas.

One hundred years ago, a group of human colony ships crashed on a distant planet orbiting a distant star. And I mean CRASHED. While much of their technology survived, very few who knew how to maintain it did, and none of the knowledge of how to create it did. (I am unsure at this point if it was a sleeper ship, a generation ship with a situation similar to Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky, or a seedship... important part: humans on distant world, with technology, but lacking the skills to create new technology; there are different reasons for the lack of technical know-how associated with each).

The world, however, was not uninhabited. In fact, several sentient races, and many bizarre (by earth-standard) creatures live upon it; the traditional elves, dwarves, manticores, etc. of D&D fantasy. Over the past century (about five generations), humans have established themselves on the world... partially due to their advantage in technology, but also due to a curious fact: they are seemingly immune to the local magic.

Not 100% immune; you can still blast them with a fireball, or move them through space. But whatever it is that allows the other races to effect each others minds with magic simply does not work on humans. Conversely, however, humans are completely unable to use this magic, in any way shape or form. They can't learn to throw fireballs, save through owning specific and rare forms of technology... that no one knows how to create anymore.

Now, not every human ship became the center of a colony. Some died out, overwhelmed by monsters or what have you. Some simply crashed, scattering debris across the landscape. Some buried themselves in the planet, or underwater.

So, there's your set-up. Standard fantasy races doing standard fantasy things. Probably no separate cleric class, just a variation on magic-users (who are, themselves, more akin to psychics). Humans as displaced outsiders, with tech-priests ministering to ancient machines they do not understand, and cannot repair. As I said,a little bit Trigun, a little bit Gamma World, with some Heinlein tossed in.

No clear idea on system; oddly enough, I conceived it in terms of 3.5, but I hate it and PF, so it won't be that.

Needs more development. But I am lazy, and have a lot of other ideas. And have to go to work.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I haven't posted this, yet.

Corpses and Caches:
The Afterlife and Burial Traditions in Dungeons and Dragons

One thing that has recently annoyed me about D&D cosmology is “Why on Faerun would you bury whole corpses?” That only the spirit survives into the afterworld is a provable fact, provided you have a high enough level wizard or cleric. Upper level clerics can even directly question their deities about life after death, to say nothing of visiting the souls of the dead in the Outer Planes, or interrogating them via Speak with Dead. The advantages to keeping bodies around is small; burials take up space, and, more importantly in D&D, corpses attract and become undead with disturbing frequency. A graveyard is likely to attract ghouls. Necromancers can use the various bodies for anything from simple skeletons and zombies to horrific flesh-born nightmares. This says nothing of the vast wealth that is regularly entombed with the dead... magic items, piles of gold, and tomes of eldritch spells are all regular found even in non-undead haunted graves. So why throw away useful magic items, usually only for the use of undead, necromancers, adventurers and similar reprobates?
To examine this, some assumptions remain the same from the D&D Standard Cosmology. Most notably, when someone dies, their soul travels through the Astral Plane to the home of their deity, or to the plane of their appropriate alignment (frequently, but not always, the same). Raise Dead and Resurrection call the soul back from this journey (or the destination), into a body repaired to receive it; reincarnate creates a body to receive them. I work from the assumption that preserving a corpse and grave goods of value serve some function; that leaving a body mostly intact and burying it with such riches as can be afforded is, in some way, useful to a person in their afterlife, and that purposefully eschewed the preservation of the corpse (such as through cremation) serves a purpose in the afterlife, as well.

The Afterworld
It is a common conception, tied to many real-world religions, that those of evil alignment are punished after death. In D&D, this is not the case. Those not called to the home of their deity instead go to the plane of their alignment, which is a place where the world works the way it should work, from the point of view of that alignment. Those who are Lawful Good go to a place where the rules are just and create happiness for people. Those who are chaotic evil go to a place where the strong inflict their will upon the weak, and the True Neutral go to a plane where neither good nor evil is embraced, nor law or chaos, but are instead part of a balance of forces affecting life.
The goal of the afterlife is to become wholly in tune with the alignment or deity in question; for a lawful person to purge themselves of whimsy, for a good person to give up spite, and for the chaotic to eschew a need to control any but themselves (and, sometimes, not even that). In some cases, this may result in unpleasantness or perceived punishment as the person adjusts to their plane. A Lawful and Good person finds that their base desires pale compared to community and service; a chaotic and evil person relearns that no good deed goes unpunished, and that everyone is always out for number one. From the point of view of someone holding that alignment, this is not only how the world should work, but also how they always suspected it did, deep down. That for all their veneer of civility, everyone is willing to sell their mother for a few gold. That the world would be a better place if everyone pitched in and did their part. If evil souls get tortured in this arrangement, it’s not because the Planes are sentencing them to punishment, but instead because they were not strong or capable enough to stop it.
The end result of this is that not many people wish to be resurrected, once they’ve ended their travel to their plane. Things make sense here, and going back to the real world means that life gets messy and insensible again. If someone is being resurrected, they should have something that they wish to complete, some reason to come back. For many adventurers, this isn’t hard to come up with, but for a lot of people, going to their final reward is just that... a reward that they have no reason to set aside.
With that said, being in the afterworld is not initially easy; you arrive much like a newborn on the Prime Material, lacking a large portion of the knowledge you need to survive, and certainly ill-equipped to make your initial place in the world. In this analogy, the souls of the dead are the other children; some older and wiser, some younger and less experienced, and the various outer planar beings (devas, demons and deities) are the adults; old and wise in the ways of the world, they shepherd the “children” according to their own natures, be they base or benevolent. The newborn babe arrives in the world much as they left the Prime, though in their fullness of health. This is where corpses come in handy.

The Condition of the Corpse
Depending upon the condition of the corpse, a person will arrive in more or less the body they left, slowly becoming their “true selves”. A man who died of extreme old age will arrive in the planes as an elderly man; someone who died of violence will arrive much as he were in life, his wounds healed but much as he looked before death. As spirits retain affinity for the bodies which they left, a well-preserved corpse is a key part of remaining oneself in the afterlife; if Grandpa Jim is going to remain Grandpa Jim, even in death, it helps to have his corpse reasonably well-preserved to aid in this. A well-preserved corpse allows the dead to better relate to their ancestors, and to better guide (or exploit) their descendants, as some of the vital self remains preserved in the realm of reality, the Prime Material plane. A well-preserved corpse also allows a person to bring much of their personal power with them, adding not only to the eventual benefits of the deity, or plane, but also to the immediate benefit of the dead when they arrive. Long residence in the Outer Planes lessens the influence of the corpse upon the spirit, until the link naturally severs, ending the ability of even great spells and powerful priests to bring the dead back to life, or the influence of physical reality on the metaphysical reality of grave goods.
In this case, cremation or exposure of the corpse are acts which speak to a desire to leave behind the physical world. If no corpse ties you to the Material plane (either because your corpse was destroyed in the burial rites, or because the dragon ate all of you), your ties to the mortal world are weaker. This allows a person to more rapidly and fully join with their deity or their plane, but bear in mind that a rapid union is not necessarily the goal of every deity. A soul that quickly joins with the deity or plane has less of a chance to impart their own knowledge and viewpoints, and less time to become truly convinced of the rightness of what they do; while the joining is quick and smooth, the deity is made less rich for it, the plane less robust. Thus, deities do not encourage cremation, but nor do they discourage it; those who eschew their bodies are different, but not superior, to those whose corpses are preserved.
Likewise, proper burial rites help a spirit speed its way to the afterlife, creating a map to where the spirit is supposed to go. Even a simple lay blessing (i.e. a non-priest blessing you in the name of your god) helps to lead a soul to the correct place, while the full and proper rites by a priest provide a map, a pathway, and even a guardian on your route. Thus, leaving corpses unattended creates a longer, more perilous journey to the soul’s destination; blessing in the wrong name sends them on the wrong path, allowing the deity they are directed towards to take a bit of the power that would otherwise go to their true deity. Thus, warriors often dedicate their foes to their chosen god of war; assassins consign their targets to their chosen god of death. In a polytheistic society, a priest does not need to send someone to their own deity; a priest of Zeus can bless someone to Poseidon’s realm, should he choose; but many will bless them in both names, giving some power to their own deity for performing the service.
Grave goods (in adventurer-speak, this is called “loot”) add a similar luster to the afterlife. If you are buried with wealth, that wealth accompanies you to the afterworld. The magic sword which was placed with your corpse is with you when you arrive, as are the mounds of gold. These help to secure one’s place in the afterworld, with monies being spent as appropriate to one of your alignment, and magic items helping to secure your place. A Chaotic Good person buried with wealth and a magic weapon will spend the money on gifts for friends and strangers, and use the weapon in contests with outsiders and his fellow dead. A lawful evil person will spend the money on bribes to the more powerful, with the weapon helping to secure their safety and position. In many pantheons, the local death god also receives a toll from all the dead; those buried without a “toll” pay in a larger portion of their spirit, so even paupers are frequently buried with a few small valuables to pay the toll.
The logical result of these facts is that a corpse is important; treating it with respect not only reduces the chances of vengeance-driven undead, but also enhances the power of ones own deity. Likewise, disrespecting a corpse, leaving it without ceremony in the wilds, weakens the deity of your foe, as souls arrive weaker, and after a longer journey. And, to adventurers, it creates another reality: those long dead are less tied to their corpses and the physical representation of their grave goods. Thus, raiding an ancient tomb does little to harm the departed, while raiding a more modern tomb can be traumatic for the newly arrived soul.


What’s So Funny About Wights, Ghouls and Necromancy?
The picture created is one that looks bleak for necromancy; the condition of the corpse, and the respect paid to it, is an important part of one’s afterlife, especially in the beginning. Using necromancy to animate the dead, especially those who died in living memory (and thus are closer to the mortal world), steals power from the gods; clerics are more effective necromancers than wizards, in many cases, because this power is then given to the deities they serve, by consecrating the body back to their deity. Wizards must do things the hard way, with less conservation of spiritual energy.
Extremely simple undead (skeletons and zombies) are essentially mindless spirits brought from the negative material plane to animate corpses; they do not involve the spirits of the dead, only the corpses. In the newly dead, this can act as an anchor on the spirit, making it more difficult for the spirit to advance as their corpses shamble about in undeath; if the undead are bound in a tomb or similarly long-undisturbed place, it can cause a long debility for the spirit. As these anchors can last long beyond the natural decay of the corpse, most right-thinking people avoid necromancy, especially of the newly dead; others, such as cults of undeath, make it mandatory, as that increases the spirit’s understanding of undeath through their association with even a simple undead.
Most greater undead (liches, vampires, the various spectral undead) actually retain the spirit of the dead person, meaning that they do not even approach their reward; it makes for a popular escape for those who fear what death may bring them, but as they devour other creatures (through level drain), they deny others their afterlives, as well, either as undead servants or into complete oblivion. Ghouls, ghasts and “consumptive” undead are yet another case; unless they re-animate a person as an undead, their consumption of corpses reduces the connection of the soul to the mortal plane, speeding somewhat their integration with their deity or plane, but with an initial tinge of trauma.
Because the level of the soul affects the power absorbed by a deity, level draining undead are likewise frowned upon; not only can they cause great harm, a person whose level is drained, but then dies of natural causes, is less useful than one who dies in the fullness of his power. These facts make deities very protective of their followers, thus causing them to empower their direct servants (clerics) to drive back and destroy the undead; evil clerics are able to control the undead, to similar effect: protecting the cleric from the claws of the undead, while giving them a tool to rob others deities of power.

The Spiritual Exchange
I have eschewed concrete numbers in this; the “numbers” deities (or planes) deal with for an individual are a complex interplay of life behaviors, method of burial, state of the grave goods, and other factors. The factors mentioned above are additive, and while they will ideally be maximized (a devout follower who is properly buried with the correct rites by a priest of the correct deity, whose corpse and grave goods remain undisturbed until the person has passed from living memory), subtractive factors (a blessing to another deity, the corpse being eaten by a carrion crawler after being stripped by adventurers, but before it is animated as a skeleton) don’t strip a soul of all of its power. In the end, a poorly-treated corpse sees its tattered soul reach its destination... but its status is lowered, which can be quite dangerous to one who is destined for the lower planes.

Dear Mrs. Williams,

It is with deep regret that I write to inform you that your daughter, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, was killed in action while serving with the SSV Normandy on the world of Virmire. On behalf of the crew and the Alliance, I wish to convey our deepest sympathies.

Ash was an outstanding soldier and an invaluable part of our unit, both in mission support and as part of the ship's life. Her courageous actions on Virmire saved the lives of the crew and our of Salarian allies. She served with the highest honor and dedication.

Please know that we have shared in your pain and sorrow and pay our final respects to one of our best soldiers. Ashley's loss has deeply affected us all, and these words fail to convey the depth of our sorrow.




JOHN SHEPARD, Commander, Systems Alliance
Commanding Officer, SSV Normandy

Many moons ago, I was involved in a PBP for Shadowrun, where we played gangers who'd run from a massacre in San Francisco to Seattle. Like most PBP, it died an ignoble death as people stopped posting. For a while afterwards, I wrote a bit about my PC, Hank Reynolds. Most of these got posted to MySpace, and a conversation on Giant in the Playground inspired me to go look them up. For those who are interested, here they are. I'm also going to include their posting date.

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(This is something I roughed out about a week ago; it looks like we'll go with Mass Effect d6, instead, so I'll leave this up for others to browse. And, yes, a lot of it is stolen.)


The year is 2097, and the last eighty-five years have not been kind to the world... but, then, when were they? To keep this brief, I'm going to pick up world history at the turn of the century.

A lot of folk like to label things post-apocalyptic... but I think they do it poorly. A good example, IMO, is Fallout.  I don't really consider Fallout post-apocalyptic, especially FO:NV. Post-apocalyptic fiction has to do with adapting to the world that is with the skills of the world that was. Once you get one or two generations away from the apocalypse, it's no longer really post-apocalyptic, because the generations alive now have always lived in this world. They're no longer adapting, they're trying to survive, but the world-as-it-is is relatively known to them. In Fallout, there's no one who is really struggling to survive with the skills of the old world. They may be trying to adapt the skills of the old world to the new world (q.v. Arcade Gannon, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Followers of the Apocalypse), but if that doesn't work, they are part of the new world.

Post apocalyptic fiction, to my mind, is people who are part of the old world, dealing with the new. Systems Failure is post-apocalyptic; Rifts is not. Systems Failure deals with the immediate aftermath of the end of the world. Rifts deals with the second-stage recovery. People have secured their own health and safety, and are now seeking to expand. In many ways, Robotech is more post-apocalyptic than Rifts... while humans have a big technological advantage, and the post-apocalyptic themes aren't heavily explored, you do have the remnants of the human race dealing with the Rain of Death and what little remains.

This is, of course, a minor quibble. But minor quibbles are what it's all about.

From a discussion on Paladins and what classes do in a system.
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Classes are, in many ways, defined by what they can and cannot do. Part of being a fighter is not being able to cast spells. Part of being a wizard is not being able to use armor. Part of being a paladin is being Lawful and Good. To an extent you can combine these archetypes and create a new one; the fighter/magic-user can cast spells AND wear armor, but at a cost of slow and difficult advancement in both, and you seldom get all the bennies like a gestalt does (for example, a fighter/magic-user has about a d7 HD, on average).

At a certain point, once you decide to ignore all of the restrictions, everything you deem "pseudo-mechanics", you either go with generic classes or a group of Lightning Warriors... instead of a class, you have a pile of statistics calculated to give the most advantage to your build, that you've put a character on top of, instead of a character who is part of a class with certain characteristics. That sense, that amalgamation of advantageous traits without sharing in the weaknesses of the archetype... including such "weaknesses" as "always be fair, even when you don't have to be", "don't wear the best possible armor, because it conflicts with your beliefs", or "stay the course, and follow the path to enlightenment"... is what drives me away from 3.x and 4e.

People will frequently say "How can you like C&C (or AD&D, or Ars Magica or even L5R), with those restrictive classes? 3.x (or PF or 4e) has so much more freedom!" I see that "freedom" as restrictive, because I wind up having to care about the mechanics of my character. It pushes character mechanics from a decision I make and then deal with ("I am a dwarven fighter"; "I am a Hida Bushi of the Hida School") to a level by level dilemma. 4e tried to overcome this through specific roles, where the level-by-level decisions are from a slate of powers, but that still goes too far for me; even with the character creator, I found leveling up a slog of comparative game mechanics that had the simultaneous effect of making my character seem awesome and boring me to tears. Let me make my character, then play my character. Rather than unlocking new abilities each level, which then have to be incorporated into my tactics and design, let me make my character and play my character. Even if I gain new abilities at various levels (as previous edition druids and monks did), they're seldom the game changers that many new combat feats could be, or the paths lead by prestige classes. I can simply make my character and play my character. Even in games like L5R or Ars Magica, where XP is spent instead of accumulated, it is less a matter of becoming something else than building upon what you already are.

In Castles and Crusades, I've had people level-up, mid-session. Roll a HD, add a bonus to hit, maybe pick up a new trick and you are DONE. I've done it in thirty minutes with a group of nine (a chatty group of nine), and that's with no more than two or three books between us, including two new people playing spellcasters. And they have fun because they get to be their characters. Their character is made, and they don't have to make it anew each level.

It's two incredibly different approaches to game play. The other isn't wrong... you're free to play it how you like, and I hope you enjoy it... but I just find it boring. It's homework and system mastery, instead of telling a good story with characters who are constrained by what they are, even as they're empowered by it.