The Cranky Gamer

Pixies in 4e

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:49:02 GMT

Someone asked for a pixie race for players in 4e (over on RPG.net). My quickie take:

I'll give it a shot; note that this is based on the 3.5 pixie, since I don't have MM2 (if, indeed, they are in there).

Pixies:
Ability Scores: +2 Dex, +2 Int (equal case could be made for Charisma, based on the 3e stats, but giving them an Int bonus with a Dex bonus is weaker

Size: Small
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Normal

Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Perception, +2 Stealth
Reactive Stealth: If you have cover or concealment when you make an initiative check, you can make a Stealth check and escape notice.
Prestidigitation: You may use Prestidigitation (as the wizard cantrip) as an Encounter power with a minor action.
Flutter: You have Flutter as an encounter power.

Flutter
You fly briefly, covering great distances
Encounter
Move Action/Personal
Effect: You may fly for a number of squares equal to twice your movement. You must end this movement on solid ground or you will fall.
Special: You may choose to fly at twice your movement +4 squares, but you take all the penalties for running.

This covers a lot of the pixie powers in 3e... you can fly (sorta), create minor illusions and other minor magical effects, and you're sorta invisible and hard to see (reactive stealth). However, it's fairly balanced with other races. Flying is not as good as teleporting (since you can't use fly to escape most Grabs or move while Immobilized or Restrained), so the extra speed is a bit of a wash. They make good Rogues, Rangers, and Wizards, and can do some nice things as a warlock or taclord.

Warforged

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:30:54 GMT

Some people say a man is made outta mud

A warforged's got oil for blood

Metal and wood and steel and bronze

A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get

Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet

Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know....

What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo'

I was made one mornin' where the sun didn't shine

I picked up my weapon and I walked to the line

I loaded sixteen tons of into a ballista bow

But the makers all say we ain't got souls

You load sixteen tons, what do you get

Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet

Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know....

What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo'

I was born for warrin', I ain't got a name

Fightin' and trouble are my middle name

I was raised from the forge by an ol' magic line

Cain't no jumped up wizard make more a my kind

You load sixteen tons, what do you get

Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet

Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know....

What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo'

If you see me comin', better step aside

A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died

One fist of iron, the other of steel

If the right one don't a-get you

Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get

Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet

Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know....

What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo'

Mind Over Matter

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:16:16 GMT

A short story that was written for the Chi-Town anthology; it got left out, so I'm reprinting it here.

Mind Over Matter

Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse.
-Gautama Buddha, Cittavagga The Mind

I had that dream again last night. The one where everything runs together and I'm positive that I'm myself, from the future, sent back to the past to inhabit my own body and correct mistakes that I've made. I always wake up hoping that if I have the dream enough that I'll wake up before I had the operation, but that never happens, and instead, I live with a day or a week of deja vu, everything happening just as my dreams foretold. The dreams are better than lying awake, trying to do that meditation shit that they talk about... I just sit there and feel the damn Cans eating into my brain, devouring what little I have left in its mad quest to make me into Lord goddamn Coake, psychic superhero to the masses.

Do you know what it's like to feel yourself go Crazy? To know that every thought you have is a result of the last thought pinging off some horrific psi-cola bottle that a mad scientist shoved into your head? To lie awake at night, feeling your brain fall apart, and feel those things start to knit it back together again in ways it was never meant to be? I check my gear, stored on the rafter above me; in the Old Town, today, so no guns or lasers or plasma or ions or... check it. Just the blades. Dead boys don't say anything against a knife, even a vibro-knife, that they won't say against a Crazy in the first place.

I find myself on the floor, thirty feet vertical and fifty horizontal from where I started. Thinking about it, I must have swung out of bed, caught the hammock with one hand so I didn't fall to the floor, used that to flip to the wall, bounced, and launched myself at the floor and into a roll. I only notice it after it happens; by the time I'm aware that I've done it, I'm on the floor and walking out the door.

Why am I out the door today? Some days, I never am; I spend all day in bed, trying to find a reason to leave, afraid of what will happen if I leave. Once I got lost in counting the number of knots in my hammock, and compulsively untied all of them... had to buy a new hammock. But I'm leaving today, and I don't recall why. I try to remember, to gather my thoughts as they run like frightened sheep from the giant steel intruders that govern my brain. I try to bring them together, but watch them run in terror when I catch sight of myself in a fragment of glass and they see those hateful Cans... those horrid things sticking out of my head like monster's horns... winking in the sunlight as if to taunt me, people shying away from me because of these evil, cursed, horns.

I feel myself trembling, about to lose it, and take some slow, deep breaths. They're not cursed horns, they're just the M.O.M. implants. They're not taunting you, it's just bright... the sun has caught them when it came out of the cloud. People aren't staring at you to laugh, they're staring because you're acting scary. They get scared when Crazies stare at windows, talking to themselves and twitching. Put the knife away. Calm down. Calm down. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out.

Now, what am I doing? Right, the interview. I'm meeting with that reporter-guy, who wants to talk about being a Crazy. Name, name name.... that's right. Irvin. Who the hell makes up his cover names? No one is named Irvin. When you chose a cover name, it's supposed to sound like a real name, not made up. Probably wind up telling me its a family name if I ask. Right.. if he's got family from goddamn Dimension X. What if he does? What if his family really is from dimension X? Should I ask him about dimension X? Should I refuse to answer any questions unless he tells me what dimension

Cyber-Knight

Who thought that? Who put that thought in my head, trying to weasel their way into my brain with false thoughts? Did I steal it from another's brain? Was it thought so loudly that I couldn't help but find it? Is someone accusing me? Is “Irvin” a Cyber-Knight? Why does he want to know about being Crazy, if he's a Cyber-Knight... aren't they supposed to care about real people, not Crazies? Who is Irvin, why am I remembering him?

Reporter, bar, talk... soon, make complete sentences. Couple more blocks and I'm there, out of the crowd. Too many people, can't keep track of them all, just the ones near me; makes me nervous. Why is that guy staring at me? I know he's staring at me because even though I've started hiding behind this tub of lard here, he's still angling for a better look. If he doesn't stop staring, he's going to wind up hurt. He's got a knife, need to grab his wrist and snap it back far enough to break it; is he wearing crotch protection? A couple shots there will convince him to... Wait, he's just looking at the poster. Ok, it's not me... ratchet it back. Cut down the paranoia.

I step into the bar, and in three breaths I know that the barman hasn't showered in at least a week... have some sensitivity for those of us with decent noses; the combined unshowered time in this room approaches a year, and that's five guys. Gentleman in the corner isn't human... little more... that's right, scratch your armpit, give me that scent you stupid bastard... quick-flex. Always smell like a gorram meth lab. He's got a knife... ozone says another... that one, with the bulge and drag... is carrying a ... laser? No, ion pistol. Dude's got yarbles, I'll give him that. Deadies will feed those yarbles to their puppies if they catch him totin' that in a fine establishment like this.

“Irvin” ... Sweet Purple Messiah, couldn't he have picked another name? It's gonna bug me all day ... is already here. Dark skin, no hair, that same dirty green jacket that could hold any number of surprises, but usually just hides a recorder and some mics... idiot, coming unarmed into the Burbs, even the Old Town... Sitting in the middle of the room like a happy little target. Very tempted to pick him up and throw him someplace better.... I don't think he'd appreciate that. What do normal people do again? Make him move without breaking him? That's right... eye contact, jerk my head towards a booth... he's coming, no need to go to step three, which is the implied violence. Maybe I'm implying violence just by doing it? I never know... people are always scared of me. Do they think I'm just going to flip out and kill people? That Crazies flip out and kill people all the time? Why does that thought make me want to wear black pajamas?

I watch, consciously narrowing my eyes as he pulls out the audio recorder. I established early I don't like this thing... not quite sure why, but it gives me the willies. It's not like he can actually hurt me while putting on the throat mics without me knowing in advance, but something tweaks me about it. It's also kinda fun to watch him squirm carefully as he puts the throat mics on both of us, as if he's afraid I'll eat him. I'm tempted to nip at his hand as he pulls it back... it must show in my eyes, because he tenses for an instant before sliding his hand back to turn on the recorder.

***

This was my third meeting with the man who calls himself Abel Baker, a Crazy with several years of experience since he had his mind taken from him. That's how he refers to it; his mind being taken from him. Abel was a whipcord-thin man with dirty-blond hair that he told me, last time, he grew long to cover his M.O.M. Implants; it was unsuccessful, because the largest of them still protruded from his forehead, hair falling neatly to either side of them, but he made the effort to conceal all of his implants with hair. His brown eyes were constantly searching the room; even from the small corner booth he'd motioned me towards, he was watching everyone and everything.

Abel was rolling cigarettes again as he watched me get out my interview materials. He did this obsessively... whenever his hands were free, he would pull out a pouch of tobacco, or dried leaves of any sort, and begin to roll them into cigarettes. He never smoked them that I knew, just rapidly and mindlessly rolled cigarettes... sometimes, he said, thousands an hour. He would zone out, thinking about things long past, lost in the memories conjured up by a scent or sound, and come to only when night fell and he was out of paper and tobacco, a pyramid of cigarettes next to him.

I had taped the mics to both our throats, noting the flutter of his pulse as I did so... should he decide I was trying to kill him, he could kill me before I could react. I always let him choose which mic I taped to my throat, and did that one first. Last time, I had to explain it to him for three minutes, and tape both to my throat before he would even consider allowing me to tape one to his... and he held my windpipe while I did it. Nerve-wracking.

I turned on the machine, careful to move slowly and let him watch me do so. I cleared my throat, and started the disc. “This is Irvin Masters, and I am interviewing Abel Baker.”

Abel broke in. “No, dammit, no one is named Irvin. Stop using that stupid made-up name. No one believes you. I'm going to call you Charlie, because it sounds better than Irvin.”

I waited a moment to see if he would continue. “This is 'Charlie', and I am interviewing Abel Baker. This is the second session. This time, Abel, I would like to speak about how you came to have your M.O.M. implants, and how you feel about them.” We'd talked about this, but he still tenses when I ask the question, and is silent for a minute before he speaks.

***

“My mind was taken away by a mercenary doctor in western Missouri. I'd been raised run cattle in the Flint Hills of Kansas, but a mercenary band came through and shooting at people seemed a better way to make a fortune than shooing at flies and whistling at cows. I had fifteen years worth of enthusiasm to offer them, a steady hand with a rifle and a sure seat on a horse, but that was it. We'd all heard of Crazies and heard them called Momma's Boys and the like, but when the doctor offered me Mind Over Matter implants, saying that they'd make me so fast I'd react before I knew what happened, so strong I'd hurt things without trying, and sharper than I ever believed possible, I didn't have the letters to put things together.... M.O.M... Mind Over Matter spells MOM means Momma. No one ever told me that and if those Dead Boys want to kill me for teaching people that much reading, they might as well make half the Burbs into Crazies. It sounded better than being a juicer, 'cause I didn't want to die young, and he glossed over the fact that he would take my mind away from me. So I went under the knife, and came out with these.”

I reach up and tap my cylinders, watching his eyes draw towards them. He's better than most, not staring at them, but he chooses silly fake names. Irvin. Nobody's really named Irvin, and I don't need to be psychic to figure that out; I can smell the lie on him, hear it every time he says it and pauses for that nanosecond. Good thing he's now named Charlie, or I'd have to be mad at him.

“They were everything Doc said they would be. I was faster than I knew what to do with, and strong enough to wrestle cattle, and could run all day; it was wonderful. The crew started to teach me things, and everyone gave me a healthy bit of respect... I figured it was because I was learning so fast, doing so well. If I seemed a bit less inhibited than usual, so what? I was young and free for the first time, and who wouldn't be a bit freer of action and word when they could do so much, so well? There were days I would cartwheel through camp, just for the sheer JOY of living.”

“We saw combat a few times, and went into bigger towns... and that's where things started to get bad. In camp, people kept a wary eye on me. In town, people saw these horrid Cans and walked away. Stores closed. Bars served me in the street. I learned that I had become a Crazy, and it started to affect me pretty bad... I started to worry that I would go Crazy, and how I would go Crazy. I knew every Crazy goes Crazy in their own special way, and I was wondering what my way of Crazy would be... would I start fearing things I shouldn't fear, or would I start staring into the sun for hours at a time, trying to see if it was a giant piece of gold, like I heard one Crazy over in Lawrence was supposed to be doing? Or would I just go Crazy and start hunting down and killing people?”

“After a while, people in our little company informed me that I'd been in my tent for about two weeks, barely eating or talking to anyone, just mumbling to myself and staring at the walls; they'd hosed me off a couple times, when the smell got too bad, but I hadn't seemed to notice. That's when I realized that that's how I was going Crazy... I was going Crazy by worrying about going Crazy.” I was starting to get worked up, but I couldn't slow down, the momentum was too strong. “It's at that point that I realized that I could FEEL the Cans eating at my brain, and rebuilding it the way they wanted it to be. They chew and chew and chew and shit and shit and shit and when they're done, all that's left is reconstituted brain,” I realized I was ranting but I couldn't stop “with parts touching that aren't supposed to be touching and thinking things that aren't meant to be thinking and doing things that normal people aren't meant be doing and seeing things that can't be seen because they haven't been seen yet, or have happened so deep in someone's head that can't even be seen, even if you pry off the top of their head with a crowbar and look inside. I did that to another Crazy when he tried to take my lunch, once, tore his cans open, looking for the knives inside them, and the glue that they use to build brains back together again, but there was just wires and circuits and blood and he kept screaming that I was taking his magic away when all I was doing was opening the damned Cans that eat his brains.”

***

I watched in morbid fascination as Abel ranted and, seemingly without his noticing, his left hand reached out, grabbed a fork from the table and drove it through his right hand and into the wood below. He grunted through gritted teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut as he ripped the fork out of the table. He quickly wrapped a napkin around his right hand, but it was soon soaked with blood. He smiled weakly at me. “Sorry, Charlie. I have been convinced for some years now that my left hand is trying to kill me. I don't think it likes hearing me talk about these things. Should we try again another day?”

“How about two days from now, same time, this table, if it's available?” I watched as he nonchalantly cleaned the blood from the fork on another napkin.

“Sure. Two days. And maybe, then, you'll tell me more about your dimension.” His eyes were a little odd at that one, like he was trying to catch me in something... I thought I felt a touch on my mind.

“I'm from this dimension, Abel... but you can ask me some questions once I've gotten a bit more information for the article I'm working on, ok?”

He smiled enigmatically. “Sure.” He got up, left something... it looked like some coins... with the bartender, and left. As I finished up my notes (verbally; too risky to carry writing materials in the Burbs), I looked at the table; the tines of the fork weren't long, but he'd driven them deep enough into the table that blood was dripping through. What kind of damage had he done to his hand?

***

My left hand is trying to kill me; I can't cut it off, of course, because that would leave it free to act. So, instead, I keep it connected, thinking I'm not onto it. It does things like breaking my hand every so often, just to remind me of how much it hates me. I'm never certain why my left hand hates me, but I know that if I asked it, it would lie, so I'm forced to let it keep hating me in silence.

As I walk through town, I feel the damn Cans commanding my right hand's muscles, twitching them so as to set the bone. There's a moment of searing pain, then I'm floating happily, quietly. I walk the streets, enjoying the sunshine and the feeling of floating; it's nice to not worry about... something. I know I worry about things, but the release from it as endorphins flood my brain and block out everything but bright sun and warm breeze, which doesn't smell at all like human feces if I don't want it to; I can ignore the smell of death and decay if I choose to just smell the flowers growing in gardens in the Old Town. 'Cause everyone's your friend, in the Chi-Town Burbs, and everything looks beautiful when you're young and Crazy. The streets are paved with diamonds, and there's just so much to see...

Something slams into my side, yanking me out of my euphoric fugue; it's now a twilit semi-darkness, and I wonder where the day went. I look at whoever attacked me, but all I see is a dark and menacing shape in the red-tinged semi-darkness. It mumbles something unintelligible... a spell? DEMON! I noticed a trashcan as I looked at its foulness, so I grab that and proceed to bludgeon the demon's head with the steel can. Head, head, body, knocking it to the ground where it continued to hurl ineffective spells at me! Horrid beast, so deep in the city! I slam the can down on its legs, and draw my knife, preparing to finish it when I am hit from behind. Another beast has tackled me, this one stinking of sweaty armor and raw animal smells; my knife is knocked free, and I'm forced to grapple with the snarling monster, trying to keep its horrific jaws away from my throat. It clamps its paws around my neck, its face darting close, so I feed it my traitorous left arm, scrabbling at its hard carapace for anything that can be used against it. It bears some magical device at its waist... a rod or mace of some kind... and as my vision begins to fade, I rip it free and club the beast in the head, again and again and again and again and again and again and again until I realize that I should have passed out from lack of breath if it still lives.

I crawl out from beneath its stink... ozone and cooked beast and the smells of raw beastly fluids, and hear more creatures approach... I can hear them scrabble across the ground, hear them growl amongst themselves as they seek their monstrous comrade. I cannot be here. The energy that drove me to kill the demons has fled; now I am just tired, and know that I can be too easily killed. I run, clutching that mystic rod in my right hand, keeping my left arm close to my chest in lieu of a bandage, walking away from the two corpses battered in the darkness.

I awake the next(?) morning smelling of the cesspool I must have passed through to confuse my trail. My left arm is swollen thickly with infection, and I'm oozing something from both my broken hand and the bite-marks on my opposite forearm; I can barely move the fingers on either hand, and everything feels hot to the touch. I can feel the edges of a burning, throbbing pain from it, but my Cans are taking most of that from me... I bless them, even though I know I wouldn't be here without them. I look to the mystic weapon I took from the demon last night, and see only a neural mace, such as the Dead Boys and their doggies wear. I know what has happened, and I feel my body shaking, though my mind cannot connect with the event clearly enough to grapple with it as firmly as I did that creature in the alley last night. Creature? Or man? Thoughts flicker in at me, things that it... he... must have been thinking before I killed him. An image of a girl, so heartbreakingly perfect that I can't help but sob; papers signed, a worker bribed, his fear as a monster of a man destroyed his little life with a trash can in a dark alley.

Unable to use my left arm (how did I get up here last night?), I drop straight down from the hammock, and the landing jars me so badly that I nearly black out... I've been hurt worse than I thought. I can feel the Cans trying to fix what there is, but they cannot fight against whatever was in that mouth, that cesspool last night; I picture them trying, in their bigness, to squash something as small as the germs that are eating me, and giggle as I realize it's now a race... do the germs eat my body before the Cans eat my mind? I stagger to a bar, barely aware of people nearby, only grateful that they get out of my way. Halfway there, I realize that I'm using the mace as a crutch, adding dirt to the blood and hair that already cling to it, but I cannot stop. Can't stop, keep going. Can't stop, keep going. Can't stop, keep going. Can't stop, keep going.

I shoulder the door open with my right side, and stumble up to the barman, staring at him blearily. I don't know if there are others here. I don't care. I order a knife and a bottle of vodka, and pay whatever it is that he asks. I don't know. I don't care. I cut the arm open from elbow to the base of my finger, listening to the bartender retch as the stench overwhelms him; the blood is green as it oozes out. I pour a fifth of the vodka over the arm, washing away the blood and pus. There's a sound of screams... I think they're mine. I become aware of Charlie standing by me... were we supposed to meet today? Or tomorrow? Had I slept a day away? He gets another two to hold me down while he pours on more vodka... I can see white bone and yellow fat. He starts to stitch my wound... where did the needle come from?

The pain recedes. I can stand without a wave of pain, but moving my left side hurts. I hear a whisper go around the room... something about the boy should be dead, the dead boy... and everyone quietly leaves; back doors, windows, maybe through the floor as ghosts. I know I should leave, too. My right hand still drags the mace, though I doubt I could wield it in anger, or even mild annoyance. I push open the door, stepping into the light breeze you get in the lee of the City. The Dead Boy and his doggies see my mace, my blood-stained bandages and clothes, and don't say a word. My brain screams at my body, insists that we fight, or dodge, or fall, but I'm doing my best just to stand... even falling would be too much. Again, I catch the tinge of ozone on the air... these are lasers, definitely, not ion guns... and watch as the Deadie and his doggies lazily raise their weapons, and the order to fire drawls itself out into a year-long croon. I watch the lasers trudge towards me, so slowly, and wonder why my life isn't flashing before my eyes... and I think, as half my chest is vaporized, that it's because

***

Irvin Masters packed his things. He would've liked another session with Able Baker, to learn more about what drove a man whose mind was so thoroughly in thrall of MOM-induced psychosis, but that wasn't possible... even had he the skill, there wasn't enough of a corpse left to interrogate. He hoped, however, that peace came to him, and that his mind came back in the end.

Civilization IV

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:08:17 GMT

So, I've been playing a lot of Civ IV, and realized something that annoys the ever-loving crap out of me: Building a new city. No matter how advanced my civilization, every city starts out with nothing. No matter how advanced your civilization, no matter how much your people complain of overcrowding, every city starts out with 1 population, and no buildings. There are a rare few wonders which give all of your cities a certain building, but they're few and far between.

If/when they make Civ V, this is what they need to include is wonders (or something similar) that requires you to build 6-8 of a building, then building this thingy will stick one in all of your cities. I also want the ability to take population out of city A and stick it in city B. You're bitching about overcrowding, when Philadelphia is producing one goddamn hammer a turn. MOVE, YOU BASTARDS!

Divine Trickster, redux

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:57:49 GMT

Rich Burlew did a great version of the Divine Trickster idea for 3.5, but it's got a few problems in Pathfinder... rules changes that rendered the old version unsuitable. Building on his foundation, and with a bit of my own stuff (run past my DM), I've got a variation on the class, that emphasizes their role as sneak attackers, healers, and skill monkeys. Rich's original version is here: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/5M5QGsJ5mpbLfAHduZG.html

The Divine Trickster

Requirements:

Alignment: Any nonlawful.

Skills: Bluff 6 ranks, Hide 6 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 1 ranks, Disable Device 1 ranks.

Spells: Ability to cast 2nd level divine spells from the Chaos, Luck, or Trickery domains.

Special: Sneak Attack +2d6 class ability, Channel Energy class ability.

Class Skills:

The divine trickster’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Cha), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Languages (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.

Hit Dice: d8

Saves: Reflex and Will good; Fortitude poor

Base Attack Bonus: 3 points every 4 levels.

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The divine trickster gains no additional armor or weapon proficiencies. They may trade their medium armor proficiency for the Dodge proficiency, if they wish. If they already have Dodge, they may exchange it for Extra Channel.

Spells per Day: When a new divine trickster level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as wild shape or domain powers that are based on cleric level), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a divine trickster, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Directed Energy (Su): The divine trickster learns to combine their ability to channel energy and strike at vital points to direct their channeled energy into a single target, causing either a devastating wound, or great healing, depending on their target. The ability to sneak attack and channel energy may still be used in the normal fashion, if the divine trickster wishes.

Those who channel positive energy may choose to not make an area attack or healing, instead using their positive energy against a single target. If that target is undead, they may add their positive energy damage to their sneak attack damage for a single, devastating, strike. If the target is living, they may use sneak attack's knowledge of anatomy to direct the positive energy more effectively, thus adding their sneak attack damage to their positive energy damage. Thus Toby, with +3d6 Sneak attack and +4d6 Channel Energy can choose to sneak attack a lich for +7d6 damage (in addition to the damage caused by the weapon and other bonuses he may have). Alternatively, he could choose to heal Ashe for 7d6 damage. Either use consumes a daily use of Channel Energy, and affects only a single target. The maximum range for either use is 30 feet.

Those who channel negative energy can do the same, but with the reversed effects; they may use sneak attack and negative energy to severely damage living targets, or to greatly heal undead (and others dependent on negative energy). Either use consumes a daily use of Channel Energy, and affects only a single target. The maximum range for either use is 30 feet.

Bonus Dice (Ex or Su): At every even level (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), the divine trickster may add +1d6 to either his Sneak Attack damage or his Channel Energy damage. This must be chosen at the level the bonus die is gained, but may change for each level. For example, Toby could add +1d6 to sneak attack at levels 2 and 4, and choose to add the rest to Channel Energy, or could choose to alternate levels between Channel Energy and Sneak attack.

Trap Guidance (Su): The divine trickster gains special intuition through his divine energy; at 3rd level, she may add her divine trickster level as a bonus to all Divine Trickster class skills. This requires the expenditure of a daily use of Channel Energy, and lasts for 10 minutes per point of Charisma bonus (minimum 10 minutes).

Domain Flexibility (Su): Select one of the following domains to which the character has access: Chaos, Luck, or Trickery. The trickster may spontaneously convert any prepared cleric spell (except a domain spell) into a domain spell of the same level or lower in the selected domain, just as a cleric channels energy to convert spells into cure spells.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): The divine force the trickster serves subtly distracts nearby creatures from looking in her direction. Starting at 7th level, the divine trickster can use the Stealth skill even when being observed.

Slippery Mind (Su): This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name, except that it is a supernatural rather than extraordinary ability.

Restrictions: The divine trickster is obligated to uphold whatever beliefs or mandates are given by the force that provides her divine spellcasting power; failure to do so will cause her to lose her supernatural abilities as she would her ability to cast spells.

Slowing down casters

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:38:28 GMT

Someone on the Giant in the Playground boards suggested slowing spellcasters down... making them take a penalty to their initiative to cast spells. Here's my version of it:

I think a simple way of doing this would be that, on a caster's initiative, he declares what spell he will cast. He does not cast it until X initiative counts later, where X equals the level of the spell; quickened spells (and swift-action spells) count as level 0 for this purpose. The spell is targeted at the end of the casting time, or can be aborted. While casting, the spellcaster is flat-footed.

This does several things.

1) Slows spellcasters down. Being slower than other people is dangerous, especially since, in that 2 count time where you're casting Glitterdust, the other side may have closed with you.

2) Makes meat shields more valuable. At least for a couple rounds, where the wizards are trying to slowly get defenses in place, having a meat shield to interpose becomes much more important.

3) Makes disrupting a more viable tactic. Instead of needing to ready an action, you have to hit them sometime in their casting period (though you can still ready an action). Since the spell-caster is flatfooted during the casting, they get ganked more my rogues and the like.

If you really want to have fun, rule that any spellcasting time that can't be completed before initiative equals 0 can't be cast that round, and carry an initiative penalty onto the next round (so if the wizard rolls a 3, and wants to cast a 5th level spell, he has a -2 to his initiative next round). A low initiative roll can cripple a caster who has to keep playing catch-up. Makes Dexterity more important, or something like Improved Initiative, to give them room to cast, and keep them from always acting last.

Oyayuzuri

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:39:15 GMT

Oyayuzuri being Japanese for "inheritance from a parent", I thought it an appropriate way to introduce my thought. I've been reading "Path of the Assassin", which is a biographical manga about Tokugawa Ieyasu's early life, and his relationship with a suppa (ninja) who served him. As they stress family and clans, it got my geekliness thinking about combining Oriental Adventures and Birthright... not as an "Asian-themed Birthright", but using the family rules in OA to create families in Birthright with a bit of history. Mind you, I'm doing this largely without books, just from memory.

So, every scion generates family honor, per the rules in Oriental Adventures. Those who are regents use the rules for Samurai, representing that they have enough deific bloodline to hold an influential position. Non-regent scions use the values for the class closest to them... fighters, rangers, and paladins use the values for Bushi, wizards for wu jen, priests for shujenka, and bards and thieves for Yakuza. Whatever you have is the initial bloodline strength of your character's family.

You then turn to the "family events" table, just a couple pages behind the table for generating initial honor. You roll on that table as dictated by your family caste, BUT you always ADD the absolute value of anything you roll... having an infamous ancestor adds to your bloodline strength, while it would take away from a OA character's honor (your ancestor being infamous doesn't actually add to the strength, it just makes it far more likely that you have a more significant bloodline). After adjusting for family events, you then roll for the various inheritances you have... special weapons, income from land holdings (though they may not be Holdings, per se), and these might influence your individual bloodline strength. You can also use the tables therein to determine your surviving family... grandparents, uncles, cousins, and the like.

After generation, your bloodline strength increases just like normal in Birthright. However, you now have a more nuanced creation system, that simultaneously generates a family and family history for you.

-------------

Related, but separate, idea: Use the Birthright powers tables in Oriental Adventures, basing it off of either individual or family honor. Maybe families have certain powers which are associated with them, and as individuals increase the family honor, the families gain more power. In that case, falling in honor enough to impact your family's honor would represent a very real threat to family power... too much dishonor and your family will lose the favor of the Kami, and the gifts that brings. Or base it on individual honor, with powers accumulating as you, yourself, become better regarded. Dishonorable acts, in this case, could destroy your own power base, even as they increase them through their pragmatic effects.

Ajudicating Illusions

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:41:40 GMT

Ok, a quick and dirty mechanism for determining the success of an illusion:

The base chance an illusion will be successful is equal to the illusionist's Chance to Learn Spell for illusions. To that, you add your character's Charisma (your ability to sell the illusion, yourself) and your level (twice your level if you are a specialty illusionist). From this, observers can subtract their Wisdom OR Intelligence, whichever is higher.

So, a 2/3 gnome illusionist/thief with a 9 intelligence and a 10 Charisma will have his illusions taken seriously 4+50 (because this is an illusion, he gets that +15%)+10% of the time... or 64%. Not good, but he isn't very bright (not very observant, forgets little details, etc.). His saving grace is being an illusionist... that +15% for illusions saves his butt.

An 10th level elven wizard, on the other hand, with his 17 intelligence and 13 charisma, gets his illusions right 98% of the time. He's bright, can sell it pretty well, and has a lot of experience. If he were a diviner, not just a wizard, he'd be down to 83%, because diviner's take a -15% with illusion spells.

A 2nd level bard who just squeaked into the class has a 72% chance to sell the illusion (because he has a 13 intelligence and a 15 charisma).

Of course, this might be modified by a few different things (like sense priority or simple WTF-ism), it also gives them the ability to judge how likely people are to believe things. It also keeps illusionists as the premiere illusionists... being an illusionist is worth 3 points of intelligence, and more as you gain experience.

You can use this chance a few different ways.

First of all, you can use it as the chance that someone will even have a reason to disbelieve... if they don't roll the percentage, they don't have any reason to disbelieve. This gives illusionists a fair amount of power, since, as the 10th level wizard example shows, you reach a point where it's very hard to disbelieve illusions.

You could also use it as a chance that an illusion will be automatically disbelieved... anyone seeing this illusion will say "That's got to be fake!" They won't see through it (which clever low-percentagers can use... say, a fake-looking wall over a real wall, or concealing an angry golem), but they won't believe it, either. This weakens illusionists a little bit, since disbelief no longer necessarily takes an action, but it does give them the ability to play the odds. "I probably can't pull off an illusion of a troll... but I CAN make an illusion over this rope bridge to look like a masonry bridge, and maybe convince them that there is no bridge!"

Master Summoner Prestige Class

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:15:50 GMT

My friend/DM Matt and I spent some time coming up with a prestige class for Pathfinder. We don't have a lot of fluff associated with it, but the mechanics are solid.

Requirements:    Able to cast 3rd level spells of the summoning sub-school
    Augment Summoning and Spell Focus: Conjuration
    Knowledge Nature or Knowledge Planes 5

1    Can telepathically communicate with any creature you summoned w/i 100 feet

2    Greater Augment Summoning: May add +2 to any one stat, which stacks with Augment Summoning, and may be chosen at the time of casting. All creatures summoned must increase the same ability    +1 Caster

3    Damage Reduction: To creatures summoned via spells of the summoing subschool, either one damage reduction is increased by 5, or creatures without damage reduction gain DR 5/magic    +1 Caster

4    Greater Augment Summoning: May add +4 to one ability score, and +2 to another ability score, which stacks with Augment Summoning, and may be chosen at the time of casting. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts.    +1 Caster

5    Increase Summons: Summon one additional of any creature summoned via Summon Monster or Summon Nature Ally Spell. All Summon Nature's Ally and Summon Monster spells are automatically considered Extended without raising spell level. This does not stack with Extend Spell.

6    Greater Augment Summoning: Bonuses from Greater Augment Summoning improve to +6/+4/+2. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts.    +1 Caster

7    Greater Damage Reduction: Creatures summoned by spells of the summoing subschool gain DR 5/Adamantine and Magic.    +1 Caster

8    Greater Augment Summoning: Bonuses from Greater Augment Summoning improve to +8/+6/+4/+2. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts.    +1 Caster

9    Maximize Summoning: When using Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally to summon creatures below the level of the spell, you automatically summon the maximum amount allowed. For example, if using Summon Nature's Ally II to summon wolves (from the Summon Nature's Ally I list), you will gain 3 wolves, instead of 1D3 (plus the one additional from Increased Summoning).

10    Enhanced Summoing: Up to three times per day, you may sacrifice a spell of 3rd level or lower with a range of Touch or greater during the casting of a Summon Nature's Ally or Summon Monster spell. The spell sacrificed applies to all creatures summoned by that spell.    +1 Caster

Woo-hoo!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:09:38 GMT

"Mysteries of Magic is in development

I’ll be assigning art to Amy Ashbaugh in a week or so, and I’ll be assigning the cover to Steven Argyle if I can find his email address and if he’s still interested."

Woo-hoo!

http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=104459

I know, my rule is "A Palladium Book isn't real until it's gone to the printer", but... WOO-HOO! Amy does awesome work, so I am completely stoked about this!

http://www.alashbaugh.com/

Exit, Stage Left

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:58:35 GMT

So, I've had a change of character in our Pathfinder game. I was playing a LG Dwarf Ranger/Rogue in our Night Below game. In the Herenshire, the word of Rangers has the force of law outside of towns, a fact I did not remember, but did me little good in the game (since we went from having two followers of Chaos to having a follower of Chaos and a Paladin of Fluffy-bunniness).

In clearing out the Goblins in south Herenshire, a party member was revealed to be a drow... he is, in theory, a LG celestial-blooded sorcerer. Now, this party member had traveled with us for months, never revealing his nature. He was still using the gifts of his dark mistress, while claming to follow Matus, the deity of just lordship. Of course, given that he revealed himself while negotiating a truce with goblins, and had previously shown a preference for charming folk into doing his bidding (orcs and a bandit, no less), my dwarf was extremely distrustful of him. He was fairly certain that the Paladin sticking up for him was charmed. With great reluctance, I let him live until we got to town. At town, they punted it to the local count (since being a drow is illegal, but the squire wasn't sure what would happen if he ordered the drow executed), and the count put him on probation.

We went on a bit, tracking down some missing pilgrims. We found a scene of carnage, and were attacked by chaos beasts (imagine if a krenshar and a displacer beast had a particularly ugly child), and, while we defeated them, most of us were injured. The drow offered to heal people. I declined. He attempted to do so anyway, using this bolt of light which was, to my dwarf's mind, quite similar to the Magic Missiles he'd been tossing around.

My dwarf, being under attack by a drow, quite naturally fought back. I went up to trip him (had a nice trip build going... trip, then sneak attack when they stand up), and missed. The elf wizard (who is claiming he's not evil about as convincingly as a dwarf can claim to be a titan with a glandular condition) decides that this has to stop, and throws a color spray... which knocks out the drow, but leaves the dwarf untouched. My dwarf considers this to be aid, so does nothing to the elf at this point.

Now the paladin comes up and argues that I was not being attacked, I was being healed. I point out that I had declined this spell to be cast on me, he did it anyway, and I cannot be sure he was attempting to heal me, since the two look identical (my dwarf had no ranks in spellcraft). During the course of this argument, the elf decides I'm being too rough with the unconcious drow (thumping him with the butt of my axe to emphasize points), so he casts Ray of Enfeeblement on me. This is an attack, which results in him getting tripped, and then punched in the face when he tries to get up to run. (It should be pointed out that, at this point, the other two party members were making very good arguments as to why we should not be killing people, and my dwarf had modified his plan to simply break the hands of the drow, not kill him).

The result? My dwarf leaves them on the moors. They get back days after me, my own story already having been told, and have to confirm my story, instead of telling it first. And my dwarf now patrols a section of the hills, while they left those pilgrims to die. And I'm now playing a summon-heavy druid with an impish streak in her (she tried to convince the paladin that tiny trolls lived inside her, causing her pain every month because she didn't take care of them... the paladin insists that she has seldom seen herself naked).

Another One Bites the Dust

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:05:15 GMT

Princes of the Universe

His Majesty, King Frederick Mercurius XXIII, slowly strode down the central carpet of his throne room. Every seventh step, he spoke a phrase, prescribed by ancient ritual. He stated the powers of the throne, an office he would assume when the sun reached its zenith in an hour's time. Each phrase spoke of the fealty of the realm to the king, of the king's power of high and low justice, of the treasury and the tax, the gaol and the axe. All these powers he took to himself, king of the land.
Every seventeenth step, he assumed a piece of regalia, taking ancient advice from a member of his staff. A cloak from the steward of his castle, and the advice "Let your law settle lightly on the people, and they will wear it well." A key from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said "Tax lightly in peace, so your people will stay rich." An orb from the Justicer; "Judge innocence and guilt carefully, and execute with a heavy heart; heads, once doffed, are not lightly returned." A scepter from the General of his armies, and the admonishment that "Wars ruin lands and slay your subjects, but give no ground to conquerors." From his queen, grave in her youth and pale in her wedding gown, he received his crown. "Be king, and father of kings. Uneasy rests the kingdom without an heir; uneasy rests the king who raises his heir to sloth and ignorance."
King Frederick knelt a moment before the throne. In a phrasing so old that none knew the origin, he stood before assembled throng, noble and common alike, and intoned an ancient oath.
"I am Frederick, son of John, son of Dean, son of Brian, King of Rhye. I pledge myself to the prosperity of the realm and the safety of its people. I will give justice to those wronged, comfort to those bereaved, and uphold the rights of peers of the realm and all those who uphold it. I pledge to this by my Life, my Fortune, and my sacred Honor."
As he settled onto the throne, the noontide sun shone down upon the land, and a roar rose throughout the hall, the city, and the kingdom. It was a roar of a free people, whose freedom would flow from the throne for another generation.

Regomancy is the magic of kingship. Wielding it, a monarch can bring victory to his armies, prosperity to his realm, and obedience to his laws. In practice, it is an art of ritual; formulas which must be strictly followed to be successful. It draws its strength from the regard of the people for their king; their love for a good king, or their fear of a cruel one. Its effects, however, are subtle; people of a regomantic land do not become mindless zombies, unable to disobey their lord. Instead, the realm itself comes to obey the monarch, bringing forth prosperity, even in times of hardship.
***

I have, as you'll note above, completed another article. This is the teaser for it, before I print it for editing, and then send it in to Palladium.

And most of it is about clowns.

Wizards of the Coast, Why do you hate gnomes?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:03:35 GMT

Ok, so I'm looking at ph2, acquired through the tertiary market, and I have to ask:

Wizards of the Coast, why do you hate gnomes?

As we all know, in 3rd edition, gnomes had several racial abilities that were pretty useless unless you were a spellcaster. Bonus to Alchemy? Increased DC to illusion spells? Both suck unless you're a spellcaster, and specifically one who uses a lot of illusion (meaning bard, wizard, beguiler, etc.). They were also saddled with a suck-ass favored class... first Illusionist, then Bard.

Now, we have 4th edition, where Wizards continues to show their gnome-hate. Not only did they not include gnomes in the original Players Handbook (a status they'd had for thirty years), they gave them this power: Master Trickster.

"But Mark," you whine plaintively, unable to comprehend my greatness and perspicacity, "it's a neat power, making every gnome an illusionist." Yeah? What about gnome wizards? You know, the kind of class that benefits from having a +2 to Intelligence, and is specifically suggested for gnomes? What do they get in exchange for this little donut being near useless, since it gives them, as a minor action encounter power, something they already have as standard at-will... and that a power of completely fiated usefulness?

Seriously, Wizards: Why do you hate gnomes?

The Day that Gary Died

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:27:57 GMT

Just a note: This is extremely long. Thus, the cut.

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that dungeon used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could out-do Jack Vance
In stories, heroes, and villains vile

But March 4th made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn't take one more step.

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day that Gary died.

So bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

Did you write the book of lore,
That we'll read forever more
When we want to game just so?
Do you believe in the random roll,
Can twenties save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me once again, real slow?

Well, I know that you're in league with him
`cause I heard you whisper on the wind
You both spat on your hands
Like you were evil's biggest fans!

I was a lowly teenage Fightin' Man
With a sharpened sword and a weathered tan
But light went out of the land
The day that Gary died.

I started prayin'
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

Now for one year we've been on our own
And dust lies on your castin' bones
But that's not how it used to be.
When the game began you were quite keen
To play out our shared dream
And to voice a wizard or a thief

Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The thief he stole the golden crown.
The courtroom was a mess
But we won that treasure chest!
And while the wizard read a book of spells
The devils poured forth from the hells
And our swords, they rang like bells
In the game of Gary's eye!

We were singing,
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
We sought fame in the giant's shelter,
Eight levels high and climbing fast!
Then we landed in that pass
The fighters dying in the grass
With the cleric, on the sidelines; he can't cast.

Now the Temple's air was sweet perfume
While the Elementals smoked and fumed
We left it up to chance
When we joined the steel-shod chance!
`cause the players tried to take the Shield;
The monsters they refused to yield.
Do you recall who won the field
And the spoils for which we vied?

We started singing,
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A dungeon, fresh from space
In the Peaks when we did play again
So come on: Jack be nimble, Jack be quick!
The robots threw their lasers thick
But friendly fire is no-one's friend!

Oh, and as I entered Acerak's Tomb
My hands were wet from certain doom
No lich re-born in hell
Could cast a saving spell
And as the toll climbed high into the night
To the DM's cruel delight
I saw Gary laughing, his eyes alight
The day the party died

I've been singing,
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd played the games years before,
But the man there said the games had gone away.

And on the boards: the newbies screamed,
The grognards cried, and the designers dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the one game I admire most
Was sold to wizards of the coast
The game is gone, its just a ghost
But it will never die!

Not while we're singing
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try
"This'll be thing that that I try."

They were singing,
Bye-bye, Gary, I
Never got to meet you,
But you are why
I spend my time with my friends and a die
Sayin', "This'll be the thing that I'll try!"

D&D Never Forgets

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:11:27 GMT

In honor of GM's Day, this little song is set to Bob Seeger's "Rock n' Roll Never Forgets". There are two versions of it; one says "Role-play never forgets", while this one says "D&D never forgets".

So you're a little bit older and a lot less bolder
Than you used to be
So you used to shake a die
But now you stop and think about your dignity
So now geek sixteen's turned thirty-one
You get to feelin weary when the work days done
Well all you got to do is get up, get some dee six
to get your fix
Come back baby
D&D never forgets

You better make yourself a fighter
Go down to the gamestore or the local mall
Check the local BBS
Chances are you wont have to go too far
Yeah the rafters will be ringing as the game goes on
The group will be shouting as they're playin' along
And all you got to do is get in into the mix
If you need a fix
Come back baby
D&D never forgets
Oh the bards still playing it loud and lean
Listen to the fighters all making 'em scream
All you got to do is just make that scene tonight
Heh tonight

Well now geek sixteens turned thirty-one
Feel a little tired feeling under the gun
Well all Gary's children are out there getting their fix
With three dee six
Come back baby
D&D never forgets
Said you can come back baby
D&D never forgets

[4e] Greenscale Lizardmen

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:21:35 GMT

Before every game, I go through a little ritual. I ask myself "If my character dies this game, what am I going to play?" Our most recent game, about the only thing that made sense was a greenscale lizardman, probably a ranger. Problem: 4e doesn't have stats for lizardmen. Nowhere. So, I fiddled with them. This represents my final version. They're fairly stout, and can survive low levels without armor, but will want some, eventually.

Greenscale Lizardfolk
+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom (there aren't really any consistently high scores amongst Greenscales. However, Strength and Wisdom tended to be higher than they needed to be for classes that didn't rely on them)

Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal

Languages: Common, Draconic
Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 Nature (They're swimmers, in swamps where climbing can be useful. They're wilderness people.)

*Reptile Blood: Lizardmen have the Reptile keyword, and are considered Reptiles for all effects. (Self-evident)
*Swamp Walk: Lizardmen ignore difficult terrain that results from mud, bogs, or shallow water. (All lizardmen have this)
*Scaly Skin: Lizardmen have a +2 bonus to their AC defense. (I added up their ACs; they're 2 points higher than they should be, given their Dex/Int scores and listed armor; it's easiest to see in the hunter type. If you think that's too powerful, call it an Armor bonus, so it doesn't stack with armor, but would work with shields)
*Waterborn: Lizardmen may hold their breath for 5 + Constitution Modifier + 1/2 their level minutes, even while exerting themselves. They may swim at their speed with a successful Athletics roll. (A bit of an extrapolation; the MM listing mentions that they can hold their breath for 10 minutes "with ease", and that they swim a lot. This makes them about on par with those with swim speeds, but they have to make a Athletics check).

Lizardfolk Feats:
Both are Heroic tier

Tail Sweep [Lizardfolk]
You gain the encounter power of Tail Sweep.

Tail Sweep
Encounter
Minor Action * Melee wall 3 within 1
Target: Each Creature in Wall
Attack: Strength + 2 v. Reflex
Hit: 1D6 + Strength Modifier damage and the target is knocked prone.
Increase damage to 2D6 + Strength modifier at 21st level.
Special: You may use this in place of a melee basic attack.

Claw Attack [Lizardfolk]
You gain have claws as natural weapons. Your unarmed attack has a proficiency bonus of +2, and does 1D4 damage. You may use these claws in melee basic attacks, or any power that has the "Weapon" keyword at melee range.

Palladium: Redefining Combat Styles

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:50:00 GMT

So, I was posting to RPG.net, on one of their many Palladium topics, and came up with an idea, based on my Weapon Proficiency idea.

For those who do not know it, my Weapon Proficiency idea is pretty simple: At every level, you gain +1 to something. This may be a +1 to strike, a +1 to Parry, or a +10% to range; the full list is in the pimp my skill monkey article. If you spend 3 skills on a WP, you get the equivalent of 3rd level skill in the weapon, letting you add either 3 +1s or a +2 and a +1 (since you cannot have the same bonus on successive levels).

Now, for combat skills (and by these, I mean the Hand to Hand skills), I've got something similar, that obviously hasn't been playtested. To gain Combat Training (so named because "Hand to Hand" leads to people asking why hand to hand skills help with shooting), you spend at least one skill; you can spend more, up to a limit set by your OCC Group. For every skill you spent on Combat Training, you gain a +1 to one combat bonus at every level.

Thus, if you spent 1 skill on Combat training, you get a +1 to initiative, strike, parry, dodge, damage, or roll at 1st level, and another +1 at 2nd level. If you spent 3 skills, you get +3 to spend at 1st level, +3 at 2nd, etc. Spending one skill gives you automatic parry, and 2 combat maneuvers (different kinds of kicks or special attacks). Each additional skill adds 2 combat maneuvers. This is in addition to a basic punch and snap kick.

The are two limitations on this. First is that no one bonus can account for more than 2/3rds of your total, except if you've spent only 1 skill, and then only at 1st level. The second is that each OCC is limited in how many skills it can spend on Combat Training, depending on its group. Men at Arms (e.g. Knights, Juicers, and Martial Artists) may spend up to 4 skills on Combat Training. Scholars and Adventurers (such as PF's Squire class, the Wilderness Scout of Rifts, or Robotech's Civilian OCC) can spend up to 3 skills on Combat Training. Men of Magic and Psychics can spend up to 2 skills on combat training. RCCs limit at whatever they most closely resemble; a Lanotaur Hunter is Psychic, but they're really Men at Arms types at heart. Dragons are Magic and Psychic, but they're also King of the Monsters... they get the maximum possible.

Now, this fails to account for a few different things currently integral to Palladium's system.

The first is the Critical Strike; most Hand to Hand skills improve your chances of a critical strike at a certain level. I'm not sure how to handle that; I think I may go with "Your critical strike improves by 1 at at levels 9, 14, and 19 - the number of skills you spent on Combat Training"... meaning a maxxed out Man at Arms will get a 19 CS at level 5, a 18 at level 10, and a 17 at level 15. I'm not as thrilled with that option, since there are some characters whose concepts revolve around CS (like assassins). While that can somewhat be addressed by them putting more of their bonus into damage bonuses, it's not quite a comfy fit for me.

The second is all of the special attacks... the Knockout/stuns, the Pin/Incapacitates, and the Death Blows. My temptation is to simply make them available as skills, with a minimum level. Knock-out/stun, for example, would be available at 1st level, but would require an additional skill to be spent. Someone who doesn't want to learn it until later can put it off. While it opens up the possibility of "My character, Mr. Uber-deathly-killing-machine, has spent 4 skills on combat, plus learned every special maneuver he can at 1st level", the hope is that said character will be so widely incompetent at anything that doesn't have an initiative roll attached that he won't be played.

Lastly (and only because I forgot it while writing other things in the article) is attacks per melee. I'm personally in favor of their being fewer attacks per melee, and leaving everyone at 2 + their OCC bonuses does tend help with that. It means that rounds take less real time, and gives low-action characters more influence on the combat. For those who want more attacks in their game, I'd go with +1 at X level (perhaps, again, based on your class group)

Just a thought that wandered across my brain. It leads to more flexible and player-defined characters, while keeping the "Palladium-ness" of the game mostly intact.

Palladium Multiclassing

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:56:00 GMT

As is well known, Palladium's system is pretty horrific for multiclassing. The OCCs are heavily front-loaded, with you gaining most of your abilities at 1st level, and only moderate increases thereafter. As such, switching classes doesn't really work... even if your old skills stop at 3rd level, they're still there, and integrating similar abilities from multiple classes can be difficult.

However, people still want to do it. They want to go from the Farm Boy OCC to the Jedi OCC, or from the Shire Gentlefolk OCC to the Ringbearer RCC. They must haves it, their precious.

And, so, I've put some preliminary thought into it, just to fiddle with the idea.

Many of the skill based OCCs aren't too bad. If you want your Rogue Scientist to become more of a Headhunter, spend the skills to increase your Hand to Hand and pick up some Weapon Proficiencies. You're still a Rogue Scientist, but you pretend to be a headhunter when the firefights start. You advance as a Rogue Scientist, because you are. Any special abilities can be learned like skills. It's simple, and avoids having to futz about with numbers.

The tricky bit comes when someone wants to add a magical or psionic class. To me, the simplest method is to declare an arbitrary training time ("You're going to need to apprentice for 4 years" or "You have to earn XP while training before you can go ahead."), and then give them the abilities of a 1st level whatever, while keeping them a 5th level Rogue Scientist. However, two important things change. First, they move to the more expensive of the two XP tables involved, while staying their current level and XP. Furthermore, they take a 10% penalty to their XP for every OCC involved... so our hypothetical Rogue Scientist turned Ley Line Walker would switch over to the Ley Line Walker table, and may be a little bit behind where 5th level for a Line walker actually starts. He'd have to earn enough experience, taking a penalty of 10% to all awards, to reach 6th level before he could do things as a 2nd level Line Walker, and would simultaneously be a 6th level Rogue Scientist. He would gain new skills at the Rogue Scientist rate (so if RS's get new skills at 6th level, he'd get them), but would gain PPE and ISP at his Ley Line Walker rate, because that's the better of the two. He can keep adding classes, but as time goes on, he gets less and less able to learn more, simply because he's got so much he's trying to keep up with.

This makes changing classes unattractive, but not impossible. For those who aspire to be alchemists (who need to be a 6th level Wizard, 6th level Diabolist, and 3rd level summoner), they started in one of the three (probably Wizardry or Diabolism, if they had alchemy as an early goal), picked up another one ASAP (probably 2nd level), and the third at 3rd or 4th level. When they finally pick up Alchemy, they're swinging around a 30% penalty to XP, working on the very expensive Alchemist table... but they're improving in four areas of magic at once.

Dwarven Women

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:39:51 GMT

I find it somewhat odd that I may have to create a tag for "Love Songs about Dwarves".

Dwarven women, are beautiful lovers

Dwarven women, they understand

I've been around some, and I have discovered

That dwarven women know just how to please a man.

(Verse)

Everybody seems to love those human women

Buck eighteen on up to twenty-five

Well I love 'em too, but I'm tellin' you

Dwarves know to really love, and boy it sure is fine

(CHORUS)

(Verse)

So baby don't you worry about growin' whiskers

Those elven girls ain't got nothin' on you

Cause it takes some whiskey, to get 'em frisky

And frisky dwarves may just be the ones to teach 'em a thing or two.

(Chorus)

Palladium PDF

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:27:42 GMT

A while ago, I proposed to Kevin that I write a PDF for Palladium... a quickie set of rules that could be given to people at Cons, or could be downloaded free to get people interested in the game. Maybe bundled with an adventure, so people could try out the various games and the Megaversal system.

I am a lazy son of a bitch. I simply can't get into writing this thing. I keep wanting to tweak things... change how rules work to fit my prejudices... not the massive overhaul some have called for, but a couple tweaks, here and there.

It's frustrating to me, because I hate giving up on a project, and I think this is one that needs doing. However, I just can't get into it.

Pimpin' Old School Skill Monkeys

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:11:23 GMT

Ok, so last night we started a Ninjas and Superspies game, only without the Ninjas and without the Superspies... just some gizmoteers, an ex-Green beret, and a thief (I think) who are investigating UFOs for a private company.

Now, the GM decided that he liked rule 9 (wherein you reduce specific skills to large categories). What we did, however, was use the skill programs themselves as our skills... so my Commando Mercenary with the Basic Military, Guerrilla Warfare, Military Intelligence, Assassin/Bodyguard and Language programs used those as his skills. In Rifts this wouldn't work, since there aren't skill programs, but it allows for a very capable and flexible character... if I can come up with why Military Intelligence would allow me to do something that my GM buys, I get to do it.

Our specific skills were limited to Weapon Proficiencies (I wound up with 11 of them; I'm a frightening sniper) and our Martial Arts forms.

There was some confusion about how rule 2&3 worked... this group is used to low being good, and so the idea that "high as possible, without going over" was a bit confusing.

The Death of the Random Encounter

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:58:36 GMT

So, on Thursday night, we were traveling, and the DM decided against rolling for a random encounter. Since we're playing 4th edition, I can't blame him. A round of combat can take fifteen minutes or more; a full combat might take an hour, if not two. And in 4th edition, it would just be XP for the slaughter... you completely heal with a night's sleep, and all your powers come back, and there are few expensive components to worry about. A random encounter is pointless in 4th edition.

However, he also shied away from them in 3rd edition, because of the time factor. Fights took time, and we don't have forever to play anymore. In 1st/2nd edition, a round of combat may take five or ten minutes... unheard of speed in later editions. The aftermath took a few minutes more, but greatly depleted character reserves... you didn't carry as much healing, and memorization took longer. In that environment, a random encounter was a grind... it took some of the edge off your characters by bloodying them up a bit. That damage would take time to get rid of, and would take resources that most people didn't have handy.

Perhaps not a profound observation, but an observation, nonetheless.

The Rules of Rifts

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:43:46 GMT

Rifts has some pretty simple rules, for all that people bitch about them. Roll d20, add bonuses, and beat the other guy's defense. Roll d% under your skill. Damage is multiples of various polyhedrons.

But all these pale in comparison to Rifts Rule #1: Is it cool?

You want to design a 500 trillion watt laser that sits on top of Chi-town. It's barrel is like three semi trailers shoved end to end, and it's set on a big turret to fry anything that comes near. It's a cool idea. Give it cool stats... 20 mile range, 1D6*1000 MD, and can only fire once every two minutes. Maybe it needs frozen hydrogen, so it can be like lasing a stick of dynamite.

Why do people complain about the Devastator? Not because it's too big... but because for that level of big, it should be cooler. Why do people complain about the Arthurian stuff in Rifts: England? Not because it's Arthur, but because it's not a cool rendition of Arthur. He's pretty pedestrian, there's nothing cool there. The stuff people like is the cool stuff... the Millenium Trees, the herbal magic.

In Rifts, cool is king. If you don't do cool... if something you're working on doesn't make you say "That's just AWESOME", then you're doing it wrong.

And I say this as the man who wrote an article about the lives of Troglodytes, for crying out loud. TROGLODYTES!

D&D Litmus Test

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:50:05 GMT

I have recently come up with a simple litmus test for whether or not a given game is "D&D". It applies across all editions, and it matches up very closely with my usual perceptions of whether or not a game is "D&D". To determine this, ask yourself a simple question:

Can a house cat reasonably kill a 1st level wizard, by the rules as written?

1st edition AD&D: No problem; only question is if the kitty hits first.
2nd edition AD&D: Again, no problem. Gandalf is toast before Fluffy.
3rd edition: It starts getting hairy for the kitty. They can do it, but only with a lot of luck on the part of the cat.
4th edition: Cat has no chance.

Therefore, 1st and 2nd edition are D&D. 3rd edition almost is. 4th edition definitely is not.

Pimp My Skill Monkey, Final Version

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:33:55 GMT

I got some great help from Stattick on the RPG.net. He helped with some of the concepts, especially as it relates to the attribute checks. He also proofread about half of this before I sent it in; many thanks to him for the help.

Pimp My Skill-Monkey

Peering into the old lock, Stattick slipped the picks from their leather case. Not seeing anyone... and certainly no guards, he peered into the lock, looking for the signs of a needle trap or deadfall. There it was... a tumbler that didn't belong. Working quickly, his deft fingers manipulated the picks into rearranging all but that tumbler. A small snickt as the last one clicked into place elicited a silent sigh. No trap, no alarm. Swinging the door open, he recoiled from the sudden klaxon-sound coming from the ward on the floor.
"Maybe I was wrong about there not being an alarm" he thought as he dove for cover, trying to remember everything he knew about wards.

Skills form an integral part of a Palladium character; in some cases, they define a character's capabilities as much as O.C.C. does. Despite their importance, skills work much as they did in 1983, and characters of vastly different physical and mental capabilities have identical skill percentages. What follows are some optional rules for all Palladium games, to add some spice to playing a skill-based character, give some use to attributes below 16 and, hopefully, speed both play and character creation. These rules are designed to be used either separately or together; Game Masters can pick and choose what parts of this article to use, and those choices won't affect the playability of the rules.

It should be noted that several rules mention "the average person." An average person is assumed to have ability scores of 10, the approximate average on a roll of 3D6. Averages for some races in some attributes will be lower or higher than this, but the average person always assumes a 10.

Rule 1: No Skill Caps
    Using this rule, skills no longer cap out at 98%, but success does. Skill percentages higher than 98% are useful for overcoming penalties, but a roll of 99 or 00 on the percentile dice still spells failure; everyone has a small chance to fail, no matter how talented or experienced. On the other hand, a roll of 1% is always successful, no matter how great the penalties; you always have a small chance of success, no matter how badly the odds are against you.
    For example, if you have a 130% chance with Automotive Mechanics, and there are 40% in penalties (because it's raining and all you have is a screwdriver and bailing wire), you still have a 90% chance of success, as compared to the old system, where your percentage would have reached the 98% maximum, and the same penalties would have resulted in a 58% chance.

Rule 2: Success and Successes
    In many skill tests, it's enough to know success or failure. However, it is sometimes useful to know how well you did, or to compare two skill checks (like comparing the Computer Programming skill of a systems engineer v. the Computer Hacking skill of an intruder). To do this, the G.M.'s should compare the skill rolls.

In a skill test, the higher a successful roll, the better, and a character scores a number of successes equal to the "tens" die in the skill check. If your skill percentage is 60%, and you roll a 58%, you have 5 successes. If you rolled a 32%, you'd have 3 successes. If you manage to roll exactly the number needed, add one additional success to your total; on a skill in which you have 60%, a roll of 60%, exactly, gives you 7 successes. It is not always necessary to count successes.
If two characters are competing, then the higher successful roll wins the contest. This means that a person with a 60% is much more likely to defeat someone with a 30%; a roll a 31-60% will succeed, while the other character would fail at anything above 30%. G.M.'s must adjudicate ties, but they should generally go to the character with the higher relevant attribute, or to the character who has more favorable conditions. If one character hit their percentage precisely, then he should win (as they have scored more successes).

     Complex tasks can also require an accumulation of successes, rather than a simple yes/no. Translating a document, fixing a giant robot, or cybernetic surgery can all be represented by requiring a given number of successes, with each check taking a certain amount of time. For example, the GM rules that you need 20 successes to finish fixing a giant robot, and that each check will take a day. If you have a 60% chance, that means you can be finished in as little as 3 days (if you roll 60% at least twice), or as long as 20 (assuming you make a success every day).  Using this rule, some might like to make 01 a "mishap"; you succeeded, but something went wrong.
    Some gamers prefer a system where lower rolls are better on skill checks. However, that takes longer to determine margins of success, especially late in a game session. Does a 25% out of 64% beat a 17% out of 58%? High numbers being better is a simpler, more intuitive, system.

Rule 3: Attribute Bonuses to Skills
    Those who are dextrous are going to be better at picking locks; those who are intelligent will be better at remembering lores. To reflect this, every time you test a skill, you add an appropriate attribute to your base percentage. If you are attempting to pick a pocket, you add your P.P. of 15 to your base of 60%, meaning you succeed on a roll of 01-75%. If you were trying to figure out what someone has in his pocket, however, you would add your I.Q. of 10, meaning you could figure it out on a 01-70%. In this variant, an exceptional I.Q. does not add a bonus to all skills. The benefit of having a high I.Q. is the wide range of skill checks which it affects; most Lores, diagnosing problems, and most Perception checks.
    This provides for concrete differences between attributes; a person with a P.P. of 15 is almost twice as graceful as someone with a P.P. of 8, but normally gains no benefit over him. Under this system, he has a +7% bonus over his clumsy compadre. It also provides for an easy method of defaulting for skills everyone should have; attempting to prowl when you don't have the prowl skill can default to P.P.; trying to swim when you don't have the skill would default to P.S.. These are low numbers, but it emphasizes the importance of training. Alternatively, defaulting can use rule 5, below.
    It is important to note that the attributes are not added permanently, and if you are using rule 7 (Skill Synergies), only the skill itself is considered, not the attribute again.

Rule 4: Perception
Perception checks have become an important part of modern gaming. Do I notice the prowler? Who caught sight of the ambushers? The current system, however, doesn't neatly mesh with Palladium's skill system. Rule 4 is about a new perception system, and how to convert old perception bonuses to this new system. Under Rule 4, Perception is computed as a percentile, like skills. This allows for faster comparison with skills like Prowl, Concealment, and Camouflage. The contest is directly between percentages, as in Rule 2, instead of converting a d20 roll into a percentage, or vice versa.

To use perception as a percentage, the Game Master should come up with a base difficulty for the situation, to which you add your entire I.Q. score, and any Perception bonuses you may have. Perception bonuses from the old system should be multiplied by 5 to get a percentage bonus; if your skills and O.C.C. previously gave you a +3 to Perception, you now have a +15%. A very difficult check may have only a 10% base chance, but smart or observant P.C.s will have a greater chance of succeeding. An easy check may have a 60% or 70% base chance. When Perception has a contest with a skill, assume a base difficulty of 40%, giving an average person a 50/50 chance of succeeding. Since this is a skill contest, the contested skill may still succeed by rolling a higher successful check.

Rule 5: Attribute checks
Rule 5 is a method for resolving attribute checks and skill defaults by using the established d% system used in skills. A common attribute check is to roll d% under the attribute times three. An especially hard attribute check might be under attribute times two, or even the attribute itself. Conversely, an easy attribute check (the sort of thing the average person would succeed at 50% of the time) might be under the attribute times five... 50% if you have a 10 in the relevant attribute. Those with very high attributes obviously find these checks easier, but that only makes sense; they're that much smarter, stronger, or more resilient than others.

   This is also a useful method of skill defaulting; if a task is especially easy, or something anyone can attempt, using a relevant attribute as the basis of a skill check is fast and simple. In this case, the attribute should be multiplied by three (giving the average person a 30% chance), and then the relevant bonuses and penalties should be assessed, just as if it were a skill check. If you are using Rule 3, however, do not add the attribute again. For example, a character with a P.S. of 15 is attempting to swim across a river, but does not have the Swimming skill. The default for this check would be 45%; penalties for rough water or bonuses for water wings would apply normally.

Rule 6: Specializing in Skills and Weapon Proficiencies
    Those who wish to sacrifice versatility for additional competence may do so by spending extra skill choices on a given skill. For every additional skill spent to improve a given skill, you gain a +10% bonus, as is already common with Domestic skills. This may be done as many times as you choose. It should be noted, however, that if your OCC requires you to spend two skill selections on a skill, then you gain only +5% per additional skill slot.
    Weapon Proficiencies are completely altered. At every level, you gain a +1 to strike, parry, damage, entangle, disarm or throw, or you can choose to add 10% to the base effective range of ranged weapons; this is in place of the listed bonuses. You may choose any of those options (or others your G.M. approves), but it must be different than the one selected at the previous level, and can reach no higher than +5. Thus, if you wish to be accurate with your axe, you could take a +1 to strike at 1st level, then a +1 to damage at 2nd level, and another +1 to strike at 3rd level, but you cannot take a +1 to strike at 1st and 2nd level; you have to interject another bonus between those. Your skill with an Energy Rifle may start off at +10% to range, then get a +1 to strike, and then a +1 to damage at level 3 (note that, in the case of weapons that do 1D6*10 or similar damages, this is only a +1 to the total damage, not +1 to the die roll). If you add, over several levels, +30% to the range of a weapon with a base of 100 feet, the range will be 130 feet, not 133.1 feet.
     Like other skills, you can improve Weapon Proficiencies beyond their base levels by spending additional skills; each additional skill spent on a W.P. raises its level by 1, allowing you to add another bonus. If your O.C.C. requires you to spend 2 skills on the weapon proficiency, you must spend 2 skills to gain the same bonus.

Rule 7: Skill Synergies
    Some skills make you better at other skills; if you are a doctor, you will be far more effective at First Aid than someone with just First Aid merit badge. To that end, any time a skill would reasonably add to another skill, you add 10% of the relevant skill's percentage. Thus, if a Medical Doctor with a 50% skill is doing something covered by First Aid, he would add +5% to his First Aid skill of 75%, giving him a total of 80% to patch a wound, treat dehydration, or wrap a sprained ankle. If he started doing surgery, however, he would only use his Medical Doctor skill... knowing how to change a dressing doesn't help with a triple bypass. If he only has Medical Doctor, he can still do many of the things associated with First Aid, but he only uses the Medical Doctor percentage.
    Some skills have a bonus to another skill in their description. In that case, use either the listed bonus, or the skill synergy bonus, whichever is better.

Rule 8: Skill Percentage Simplification
    Aside from Rule 9, this rule is probably the most far-reaching; it will require significant modification of NPCs if you wish to keep them using the same rules as PCs. However, it's end result is to make characters easier to build and level, without sacrificing the flexibility of Palladium's comprehensive system.

     All skills are classified into one of three categories: Easy, Medium, or Hard. This classification determines their base percentage - the percentage a person will have at 1st level, without bonuses or attribute considerations. Easy skills have a base of 60%, Medium skills have a base of 45%, and Hard skills have a base of 30%. Every level after 1st, all skills improve by 5%.
     For a simple example, look at the medical skills of First Aid, Paramedic, and Medical Doctor. First Aid is an Easy skill, Paramedic is a Medium skill, and Medical Doctor is a Hard skill. An 11th level character with all three, and no bonuses from O.C.C., will have a 110%, 95%, and 80% with these three skills. At 12th level, those will improve to 115%, 100%, and 85%... but will still fail on a roll of 99-00.
     Most skills will fall into the category of "Medium"... they're not especially hard if you have training, but they're not easy, either. At 1st level, someone who is competent (average attributes) and trained should have a bit better than a 50% chance to succeed in them. However, some skills will be considered "Hard", or "Easy". The Hard skills may be the end of the a chain, extremely complex, or simply something beyond the ken of the character. The Easy skills are things that most people can do fairly competently, once they get the knack of it.

Some skills that might be considered Hard are: (skills are listed in order they appear on the Rifts: Ultimate Edition skill list)
Cryptography
Breaking/Taming Wild Horses
Electrical Engineer
Robot Electronics
Forgery
Impersonation
Intelligence
Undercover Ops
Bioware Mechanics
Mechanical Engineer
Robot Mechanics
Cybernetic Medicine
Field Surgery
Medical doctor
Veterinary Science
Computer Hacking
Chemistry: Analytical

Skills that might be considered Easy are:
Computer Operation
Radio: Basic
All Domestic Skills
Basic Electronics
Basic Mechanics
Automotive Mechanics
First Aid
Brewing
Military Etiquette
Swimming
Climbing
Automobile
Small Boat
Motorcycle

Rule 9: Simplified Skill List
   While some regard Palladium's large skill list as an advantage, it can be cumbersome to others, especially if you simply want to play quickly, without spending hours creating a character. Rule 9 completely revamps the skill list. Instead of having a large number of discreet skills, the character instead invests in skill categories. You would not have Mechanical Engineer, Weapons Engineer, and Locksmith, but a single "Mechanical" skill, with varying difficulties depending on whether the task was Easy (base 60%), Medium (base 45%), or Hard (base 30%). If you wanted to pick a lock, you might roll Espionage, Rogue, or Mechanical, depending on what your best skill was, and how you approach things. Only languages and combat skills (Hand to Hand Combat and Weapon Proficiencies) are handled as discrete skills.
    To determine beginning skills, first total all the skills possessed by the OCC; OCC skills, Other Skills, and Secondary Skills, but do not include languages. Divide that total by 5; that is the number of skill selections you may make; you MUST have 1 skill in every category that your OCC skills (though skills in multiple categories only need to be represented once; Pick Locks could be either a Rogue skill or an Espionage skill, so it is accounted for if you have either Rogue or Espionage). If you don't have enough skills selections to do that, then you must fulfill as many as possible. Every level at which your OCC would gain any number of skills, you gain one more skill selection (or two if both Other and Secondary skills would give you a skill at this level).
    Langauges and combat skills are a special case. Each language requires an individual skill selection. You begin with the same number of languages as allotted by your OCC; they otherwise follow the same rules as other skills. Easy conversations hold little difficulty, while deciphering an ancient version of a language might carry penalties beyond a Hard check. Literacy is frequently purchased separately from speaking a language, and requires its own skill selection for each alphabet. Combat skills are ajudicated normally.
    A single skill selection makes you "Trained" in a skill; you may make checks against that skill without penalty. Every additional skill spent adds +10% to all checks with that skill; those increasing Physical skills may choose to instead increase one attribute (PS, PP, PE or Spd) by two points, or add 10 to their S.D.C.. There is no per-level increase.

The Cranky Gamer

Pixies in 4e

Warforged

Mind Over Matter

Civilization IV

Divine Trickster, redux

Slowing down casters

Oyayuzuri

Ajudicating Illusions

Master Summoner Prestige Class

Woo-hoo!

"Mysteries of Magic is in developmentI’ll be assigning art to Amy Ashbaugh in a week or so, and I’ll be assigning the cover to Steven Argyle if I can find his email address and if he’s still interested."Woo-hoo!http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=104459

Exit, Stage Left

Another One Bites the Dust

Wizards of the Coast, Why do you hate gnomes?

The Day that Gary Died

D&D Never Forgets

[4e] Greenscale Lizardmen

Palladium: Redefining Combat Styles

Palladium Multiclassing

Dwarven Women

Palladium PDF

Pimpin' Old School Skill Monkeys

The Death of the Random Encounter

The Rules of Rifts

D&D Litmus Test

Pimp My Skill Monkey, Final Version

"Mysteries of Magic is in development

I’ll be assigning art to Amy Ashbaugh in a week or so, and I’ll be assigning the cover to Steven Argyle if I can find his email address and if he’s still interested."

Woo-hoo!

http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=104459