Recent content by Once a Fool

Mercy is valueless when it is given to those who don't need it. No, no! I said good fails when it vanquishes evil instead of converting it. Evil vanquishes itself, it only needs to be thwarted and taught the error of its ways. That is a paladin's job, though most people give preference to...

The paladin who is attempting to understand and live by this code is being played. But, you must take "trust" in context. It is not a stupid, blind trust, but a trust that mercy is, in fact, the right choice, even though it may not seem like it.

A paladin without mercy is a future blackguard. Mercy is the chief characteristic of a good alignment. Any character who has not yet learned that, only wants to be good, at best. Alhandra, the PHB example, is on track to fall, unless she learns better. Why? Because GOOD does not want to...

No argument there. I'm just wondering what psychological implications the lack of ability for such unconscious change would bring about for the race. Nothing in an elf's life - nothing - happens outside of consciousness. No surreal art, nothing abstract; these things would have to be...

With regards to the elven life-span, Tolkein's elves were, compaired to the shorter-lived races, usually more wise (in the Lost Tales, if I recall, one branch was called the Gnomes--Greek for "wisdom," or somesuch. Memory is foggy). This is both because of their deeper experience in...

Is this unrelated to the online IronDM tournaments that used to be held here, at the RBDM's Club and at Nutkinland? Sounds neat, though.

This raises some interesting questions, too, of course.

Daydreaming maybe, but they can't have dreams independent of conscious guidance, if they never lose consciousness. They are, in Tolkien's work, more deeply connected with the spiritual world, but in D&D, it is a different matter. Of the many gifts given them, an inherent spiritual...

Here's a thought: If elves do not sleep, that means they also do not dream. What would such a condition do to their psychology? If dreams offer insights into the inner workings of a mortal's mind, must the elves meditation period then be a substitute for this? What flavor in the world is...

The amount of attention being paid by a player is one example of what I'm talking about. If the player isn't even interested in something going on in the game, I can usually assume that the character isn't, either, so I know which buttons to push later. Helping is good, especially for the new...

In my current campaign, I have been playing around with ways to help the players delve into the setting by intentionally bluring the line, at times, between "metagame" and "in-game." Now, I don't mean that I'm trying to drive my characters crazy in a "Mazes and Monsters" kind of way, but I try...

120d10 (8d10x15) should produce 12 10's, if the dice are fair.

9:10^120 (9:1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)

Edited for Redundancy

Nice ideas (I already don't worry about encumberance, unless it really matters, or ammunition. But, the players who are not new to the edition really use those tactical options quite a bit. The half-orc monk, for instance, is quite the grappler. I know that my parameters seem contradictory...