Recent content by A Passing Maniac

Generally speaking, I'd say there should be no check, because either (A) there is no combat situation and the group can take their time, or (B) there is a combat situation and it sucks to be left hanging off a ledge because your party couldn't make the first Athletics check and didn't want to...

The settings that stray from traditional western high fantasy have always appealed to me the most. Once I got into things like Planescape, Eberron, and Dark Sun, I never looked back. In fact, those settings are my top three, probably in that order. I also like the sound of Spelljammer and...

Definite no. Sitting around doing nothing while you wait for your character to be not-useless, or wait for your new character to be created and introduced, isn't fun. (Even worse if you actually liked your character.) YMMV, of course, but my players and I find that save or die/suck effects don't...

"DMG3 prob in 2012, not enough groups in epic yet, support for epic in ddi" newbiedm (newbiedm) on Twitter

Awesome. Thanks much! :)

I have a couple of small questions about the epic destinies, then, if you're willing and able to answer. The first is just - what are the prerequisites for the five EDs? And the second - in 2e, the pyreen were a race, not a class or transformation. How does the ED actually present them?

This is the worst thing about the situation, for me. I can understand and empathize with personal issues or writer's block or other projects or simple procrastination or whatever causing delays in the writing process. But promising multiple times that "The book is pretty much done, this is it...

Curse you, bland miniature humans, cuuurse yooou!

At-will shapeshifting is far cooler than being mildly sociable. Viva la changelings!

As a wise man once said, "I like bug butts and I cannot lie..."

And a few more... Of the seven archons who comprise the Celestial Hebdomad, Barachiel, Raziel, and Sealtiel (or Selatiel or Selaphiel) are the names of archangels in various bits of angelic lore, and Zaphkiel is probably taken from the angel names Zophiel or Zadkiel. Pistis Sophia isn't the...

Of the demon lords, Baphomet, Dagon, and Demogorgon all predate D&D, although Baphomet and Demogorgon were not actual gods but invented by later authors as examples of demonic pagan deities. Additionally, D&D's Dagon is clearly inspired less by the Semitic grain god and more by H.P. Lovecraft's...

Humans are the closest there is for me, but even then I rarely play them, rarely see them played, and wouldn't consider a setting without them "not D&D." The usual core races have gotten kind of boring for me. Various settings might change the basic assumptions to make them more interesting --...

Personally, I'm a fan of... 1. Create a character. 2. You are summoned by a relative or old friend, who is ... [Roll 1d4] 1: Dying 2: Not dying, but going to die horribly sometime during the investigation 3: Actually dead; his heirs did the summoning 4: Secretly an evil cultist 3...

Like S'mon said, since the GM usually controls things, players can't normally be Mary Sues. But there is one way for a player to have more control over the game, or more accurately over the GM, and thus approach Suehood: being the significant other. I know most GMs are pretty fair to everybody...