Imperial measurement is fun! (and that's why the rebels blew up the death star)And woohoo, in real life D&D you can be used to gauge a five foot square!
Poor Fivel
OOC thread!
Forum rules
Please read the Forum rules and policies before posting. You may
to help finance the hosting costs of this forum.
Please read the Forum rules and policies before posting. You may
to help finance the hosting costs of this forum.
Re: OOC thread!
Lol, yea, it's something like 16 ounces to a pound, 14 pounds to a stone Imperial measurement is fun! (and that's why the rebels blew up the death star)
And woohoo, in real life D&D you can be used to gauge a five foot square!
Poor Fivel
Imperial measurement is fun! (and that's why the rebels blew up the death star)And woohoo, in real life D&D you can be used to gauge a five foot square!
Poor Fivel
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Actions, Actions and way too many freaking actions!
Alright, so as Im sure you all know, at home I play a mix of 3 and 3.5, basically taking what my group liked about both systems and combining it. LIke we still use Innuendo, and the old GP rules and a bunch of other stuff, hence why sometimes I will ask people to make a roll that makes no sense
.
Ok, so 3.5 added "swift actions" and "immediate actions". Now, I generally dont allow immediate actions at all. There is absolutely no point to them. You should not be able to do anything on someone elses turn. Period. Thats what the ready action is for. Especially by allowing them, it causes some spells which are immediate action casting to be way OP. Feather fall comes to mind.
Swift actions are alright, I understand the ide aof having something that is slightly more than a free action but not enough to be afull action (in game terms its a free action you can only take once a round), although I generally dont use them.
Now one thing I like about this group, out of many things, is that we are not powergamers who focus on the rules. Like I was on a D&D website the other day where someone had mechanically broken down all the classes into "tiers" based on how powerfull they were as in who would have a skill that fit into a given situation and which feats you should take for the best mechanical advantage and all that. Yuk.
So I'm sure it wont be an issue, ubut I would like thoughts on actions an immediate actions being removed.
Alright, so as Im sure you all know, at home I play a mix of 3 and 3.5, basically taking what my group liked about both systems and combining it. LIke we still use Innuendo, and the old GP rules and a bunch of other stuff, hence why sometimes I will ask people to make a roll that makes no sense
.Ok, so 3.5 added "swift actions" and "immediate actions". Now, I generally dont allow immediate actions at all. There is absolutely no point to them. You should not be able to do anything on someone elses turn. Period. Thats what the ready action is for. Especially by allowing them, it causes some spells which are immediate action casting to be way OP. Feather fall comes to mind.
Swift actions are alright, I understand the ide aof having something that is slightly more than a free action but not enough to be afull action (in game terms its a free action you can only take once a round), although I generally dont use them.
Now one thing I like about this group, out of many things, is that we are not powergamers who focus on the rules. Like I was on a D&D website the other day where someone had mechanically broken down all the classes into "tiers" based on how powerfull they were as in who would have a skill that fit into a given situation and which feats you should take for the best mechanical advantage and all that. Yuk.
So I'm sure it wont be an issue, ubut I would like thoughts on actions an immediate actions being removed.
Re: OOC thread!
The way I see it immediate actions and attacks of opportunity are a mechanical fudge to bring the sensable but narratively broken mechanics of breaking donw the combat in to rounds where one person makes all their actions then the next person. Otherwise combat becomes this odd thing where in six seconds, you you actually take 6 x the number of combattants, and most of the time people stand around scratching themselves and occasionally lashing out with their sword in frustration at the odd time/space dillation
I like PbP because we can actually sensibly pull back the narrative once the round's actions have been given, remapping the combat round as it is supposed to be - ie everyone is making their actions almost simultaneously, with a small delata delay between each person. So to me immediate action and attacks of opportunity make sense in that you are trying to do something yourself, but six seconds is a long time for a small amount of movement and doing one action. A lot of that six seconds is 'dead' time where you are parrying, moving in small sidesteps and forwards steps, (as opposed to the cummulative movement that is termed a five foot step) and actually awaiting the right moment for a strike. In that six seconds I can imagine that you have the timeand awareness to reflexively do something that is classed as an immediate action in reaction. Just like you always have time to make a hasty and most likely second swing with your weapon if the target you are focused on loses focus for that moment.
To me a readied action is not a reaction to anything, it is a deliberate gamble to pause in your own actions. Both mechanically and narratively.
So for example, in a hostage situation you ready an action - you will bean the guy with a spell the moment he looks like he's going to slit the hostages throat. So the second he twitches, boom. Except mecahnically (and understandably narratively) if he instead pushes the hostage forweards and runs away, you can't bean him. In a crowded moment you are deliberately pausing, that to me is a readied action.
Whereas say in a fight suddenly you see movement out of the corner of your eye, and reflexively you shout the words of a shielding spell (or suddenly srop down a pit and featherfall). You aren't walking around, not doing anything other than going 'oh god I hope I don't get hurt', it's just when a danger appears out of nowhere, or something unexpected happens, you have a mechanical actiont to use up when you want to say 'wouldn't my character react to that, since all this is supposed to be happening at the same time?'
Anyway, that's my thoughts on the difference between the two. If you want to drop them, you can, but I think you will find yourself fudging for them when you summarise a narrative - dropping down a pit causing the rection to come in the next round, or you'll stretch the dice rolls of a standard action to fit a reaction to something someone else did.
You could always compromise since PbP would allow this, and say that something that might have been an immediate action can be substituted for your standard action, because it interrupted it? However, I always feel 3.5 is a little punative with how much stuff you can do with a standard. So you might have noticed in my own game here I would allow some things that would be a standard action really to slip in to move-equivalent, and some move-equivalent to be doable as part of a basic move (jsut as readying a shield got folded in to that).
I like PbP because we can actually sensibly pull back the narrative once the round's actions have been given, remapping the combat round as it is supposed to be - ie everyone is making their actions almost simultaneously, with a small delata delay between each person. So to me immediate action and attacks of opportunity make sense in that you are trying to do something yourself, but six seconds is a long time for a small amount of movement and doing one action. A lot of that six seconds is 'dead' time where you are parrying, moving in small sidesteps and forwards steps, (as opposed to the cummulative movement that is termed a five foot step) and actually awaiting the right moment for a strike. In that six seconds I can imagine that you have the timeand awareness to reflexively do something that is classed as an immediate action in reaction. Just like you always have time to make a hasty and most likely second swing with your weapon if the target you are focused on loses focus for that moment.
To me a readied action is not a reaction to anything, it is a deliberate gamble to pause in your own actions. Both mechanically and narratively.
So for example, in a hostage situation you ready an action - you will bean the guy with a spell the moment he looks like he's going to slit the hostages throat. So the second he twitches, boom. Except mecahnically (and understandably narratively) if he instead pushes the hostage forweards and runs away, you can't bean him. In a crowded moment you are deliberately pausing, that to me is a readied action.
Whereas say in a fight suddenly you see movement out of the corner of your eye, and reflexively you shout the words of a shielding spell (or suddenly srop down a pit and featherfall). You aren't walking around, not doing anything other than going 'oh god I hope I don't get hurt', it's just when a danger appears out of nowhere, or something unexpected happens, you have a mechanical actiont to use up when you want to say 'wouldn't my character react to that, since all this is supposed to be happening at the same time?'
Anyway, that's my thoughts on the difference between the two. If you want to drop them, you can, but I think you will find yourself fudging for them when you summarise a narrative - dropping down a pit causing the rection to come in the next round, or you'll stretch the dice rolls of a standard action to fit a reaction to something someone else did.
You could always compromise since PbP would allow this, and say that something that might have been an immediate action can be substituted for your standard action, because it interrupted it? However, I always feel 3.5 is a little punative with how much stuff you can do with a standard. So you might have noticed in my own game here I would allow some things that would be a standard action really to slip in to move-equivalent, and some move-equivalent to be doable as part of a basic move (jsut as readying a shield got folded in to that).
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
You make very good points. Although I thought a deliberate pause would be a delay, to kinda check out the field (an action I am quite fond of when playing spellcasters, as you can see from how many times Petal did it).
And a ready is saying "I will do (x) at the same time someone does (y)". If someone doesn't do (y), I still allow the ready-er to react, only on the init count after the person who was supposed to perform the action moves. (god I rewrote that like 5 times trying to make it clear- there was way too many pronouns!) So, unlike in the 3.5 rules, you will not lose an action if the circumstances of your readying don't appear. You just get your init count lowered as a "wait, what?" type moment when the enemy does something you werent expecting. I think it is total crap that you lose an action, cuz if the DM wanted to be a real dick, s/he could always make it so you lost an action every time you readied by having the enemy do something outside of the scope of the ready.
And I am unfamiliar with how 3.5 made standards punative.
And a ready is saying "I will do (x) at the same time someone does (y)". If someone doesn't do (y), I still allow the ready-er to react, only on the init count after the person who was supposed to perform the action moves. (god I rewrote that like 5 times trying to make it clear- there was way too many pronouns!) So, unlike in the 3.5 rules, you will not lose an action if the circumstances of your readying don't appear. You just get your init count lowered as a "wait, what?" type moment when the enemy does something you werent expecting. I think it is total crap that you lose an action, cuz if the DM wanted to be a real dick, s/he could always make it so you lost an action every time you readied by having the enemy do something outside of the scope of the ready.
And I am unfamiliar with how 3.5 made standards punative.
Re: OOC thread!
Indeed, I see a delay in making a broad ready action, and therefore not able to counter anything as an immediate reaction - but still able to react. The trade off of trying to be ready for anything So back in the hostage situation, if you ready an action, you can save the hostage but not give chase. If you delay, you can't react immediately to the hostage situation, but you could then give chase or give a delayed beaning to the hostage taker.
If you want to remove the trade off, and just a delay / ready are roughly the same, and the trade off is only 'you can only interrupt one thing, so you have to say you are actively waiting for it' that's fine with me.
Oh, it didn't really make standards punative directly I guess, it sometimes feels that many actions being move equivalent made it you effectively used your standard to do something move-equivalent, and then moved, and then that's it. So standard actions were so 'big' that if you did too many small thigns around them, there wasn't time. I liked thigns like unsheathing a weapon being able to be folded in to a move. It still made it something you needed to have a free move action you were using to do, but it didn't mechanically block doing something during a round.
Running out of time, will try to recall what has annoyed me in the past later!
So back in the hostage situation, if you ready an action, you can save the hostage but not give chase. If you delay, you can't react immediately to the hostage situation, but you could then give chase or give a delayed beaning to the hostage taker. If you want to remove the trade off, and just a delay / ready are roughly the same, and the trade off is only 'you can only interrupt one thing, so you have to say you are actively waiting for it' that's fine with me.
Oh, it didn't really make standards punative directly I guess, it sometimes feels that many actions being move equivalent made it you effectively used your standard to do something move-equivalent, and then moved, and then that's it. So standard actions were so 'big' that if you did too many small thigns around them, there wasn't time. I liked thigns like unsheathing a weapon being able to be folded in to a move. It still made it something you needed to have a free move action you were using to do, but it didn't mechanically block doing something during a round.
Running out of time, will try to recall what has annoyed me in the past later!
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Well ya. I guess a ready turns into a delay under my system if you "f" it up. Never really thought about it like that though. It came about cuz no one ever readied due to having to predict what the NPC could do, and the general feeling of "if the DM wanted to be a dick, they could". Note that a ready drops you before the character's init who causes the ready, and a messed up ready drops it *after*/ Hmm. To make it more punative but still more fair then losing an entire round, perhaps I should drop it to init count 1 if you mess up.
Also in a delay you can move on whatever init count you choose, so you still theoretically could delay and start moving on whatever init you want, but a ready will always have you move before/after the character who's action you were readying.
Also in a delay you can move on whatever init count you choose, so you still theoretically could delay and start moving on whatever init you want, but a ready will always have you move before/after the character who's action you were readying.
Re: OOC thread!
Yeah, I think even if a ready action becomes a delayed action if it fails, it still works ok. Afetr all, a delay you also get all your actions in response to someting, with a failed ready you only have a standard action to re-task.
Funny, I never would have thought of the DM screwing someone over to not trigger a ready. Personally as a DM I'm about ensuring I have an NPC through line that the players shape, and would be more worried about throwing gimmies at the player (aww, but that ready was a cool idea, eh, why dopens't the skeleton just decide for no reason to rush that way instead). I guess if a DM seems that evil, you need to start rolling NPC reactions somehow to things out in the open! But if you don't trust your DM, you almost have to ask why you are gaming with them. You had some paranoid players, it sounds like
Funny, I never would have thought of the DM screwing someone over to not trigger a ready. Personally as a DM I'm about ensuring I have an NPC through line that the players shape, and would be more worried about throwing gimmies at the player (aww, but that ready was a cool idea, eh, why dopens't the skeleton just decide for no reason to rush that way instead). I guess if a DM seems that evil, you need to start rolling NPC reactions somehow to things out in the open! But if you don't trust your DM, you almost have to ask why you are gaming with them. You had some paranoid players, it sounds like
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
As I said in Beo's game, sorry for the spotty posting lately guys. Ive been real busy. Should be more stable this wk tho.
-
oh_brother
- Son of Heaven
- Posts: 1897
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:13 am
- Location: The Screamer Room
Re: OOC thread!
Indeed, take thr time you need - your posts are always involved with cool background details, etc! No need to rush those
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
WTF? When I posted OB and Ian's post, it hung forever on waiting for www.dungeon...(ect). Then I got a 503 error code saying "service temporarily unavailable". So I hit back and tried to send it again. It went through that time, but when I went to go look at my post it had posted it 3(!) times. So I deleted two of them. Weird.
Re: OOC thread!
Yeah, I've occasionally seen that, and usually it's the server being slow to reserve the page on your side, but the post itself has gone through in the initial load. And as you say, if you can't see it, you assume it hasn't posted, so you keep resending it and it keeps adding new ones then being slow to show you the news ones!
-
oh_brother
- Son of Heaven
- Posts: 1897
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:13 am
- Location: The Screamer Room
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Dammit! OB, you are spoiling my fun. And I even got a cheap flight too! Have fun Ian. I'll make sure Thiy doesnt turn into a man-loving nympho when youre gone. 
Have fun Ian. I'll make sure Thiy doesnt turn into a man-loving nympho when youre gone. Re: OOC thread!
OK! Now am officially on holidays in Asturias (think Scotland geography but with a Spanish accent... Better food, eh Beo?) for the week. Hopefully we'll have WiFi but we'll see.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Re: OOC thread!
Woohoo! Enjoy, though how you can have better food with no haggis nor stovies is beyond me! :p
-
Ameena
- Wordweaver, Murafu Maker
- Posts: 7552
- Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2003 6:25 pm
- Location: Here, where I am sitting!
- Contact:
Re: OOC thread!
Maybe something came up where she works - that's happened before, I think. Or maybe her comp exploded...didn't that happen before as well?
______________________________________________
Ameena, self-declared Wordweaver, Beastmaker, Thoughtbringer, and great smegger of dungeon editing!
Ameena, self-declared Wordweaver, Beastmaker, Thoughtbringer, and great smegger of dungeon editing!
Re: OOC thread!
We have WiFi in the apartment and even the curtains of rain here hasn't disconnected me from the internet... Raixel didn't mention anything about an imminent absence in the other thread.
-
oh_brother
- Son of Heaven
- Posts: 1897
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:13 am
- Location: The Screamer Room
Re: OOC thread!
Yeah, hopefully it is just a busy time and work, and she is not actually raiding Ian's house.
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Yeah, sorry guys. Went to my dads house for the weekend. Didnt think itd cause me to lose connection cuz Ive posted from there before os didnt leave a note. However they were redoing the cable lines in his house so no net for 3 days, namely the week I was there. I tried to post from his iPhone and it didnt work. Sorry.
Re: OOC thread!
Not a problem, good reasons of seeing dads rather than bad reasons of computer explosions are cool
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Again. I am sorry for the huge delays. Updates might be sporadic from friday to monday as Ive been stupidly busy on the weekends. It shouldnt last more than a few weeks, but I'm pretty much going to say "no weekend updates and only sporadic mon ones for a while cuz I feel bad that I think I can get at least a couple out, and then end up not even being able to get on my comp to say I'm busy."
I hate it when life gets in the way of my passions.
I hate it when life gets in the way of my passions.
-
raixel
- The Dungeon Master Cylinder
- Posts: 1200
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:10 am
- Location: I see Mount Rainier in the distance...
Re: OOC thread!
Well, I'm glad everyones understanding.:. I'm not happy about it. Cuz its not fun stuff. More like "fun" stuff. Like "responsibility" type stuff. Combo of giant work project and family "end-of summer-visiting-relatives-in-hometown-for-a-month-i-am-obligated-to-do-stuff-with-every-weekend-even-though-I-barely-know-them-and-it-takes-up-my-work-time-causing-me-to-have-to-cram-to-meet-monday-deadline" type stuff! Fun fun fun.
Im working on you and Ameena's post right now. Up ASAP.
Im working on you and Ameena's post right now. Up ASAP.
Re: OOC thread!
Not a good combo when one annoying thing stops you from getting another annoying thing out of your way! At least you have an end date for it to get better