Recent content by Aristeas

Just to supplement the pure mathematics upthread, I wrote a Java simulator of a complexity 1 skill challenge and ran it ten million times on all of the interesting DCs. This is only an approximation, obviously, but at n=10^7 it's more or less equivalent to the actual probabilities, and you can...

The Skill Challenge mechanics in the DMG do not seem to allow Aid Another by default. What the skill challenge section says (DMG 74) is that you roll initiative, and then you go through the initiative, with everybody rolling against the listed Easy,Moderate,Hard DCs and stacking up successes or...

Except for a fey-pact warlord? Then you can kill something and use your pact boon to activate Shadow Walk, while still having a move action left in the round. Then shift stealthily, and voila.

The 3e cleric got quite a lot of benefit out of a Wis of 20, sure. +2 Wis meant a 5% better chance of an enemy failing a saving throw (for those spells with saves) and a bonus spell or two. Casters always wanted higher primary attributes, and they were substantially more valuable than increasing...

Given the way that primary attributes contribute to attack and damage on almost every action, I predict that the standard array will be 18, 14, 11, 10, 10, 8. Maybe 18, 12, 12, 12, 11, 8 on characters that don't have an obvious second attribute.

All right, so let's say I'm playing a warlock, a single-target blaster with high Charisma who derives her power from extraplanar beings. But she's not as selfish as the average warlock- her ultimate aspiration is to found her own House and start a dynasty, and to do that she needs to make a name...

(OOC: As I think is pretty obvious to all of us by now, I don't really have time to keep up with this game at present. It's a pity, because I think the premise and characters are very interesting, but I'm taking the GRE in two weeks and I really can't focus enough for this. Best to assume that...

Another day, another occult massacre Karalain is investigating. Mysterious red powders are Valandil's department, so she leaves them to him. Of more interest to her is the scene itself. Her face is focused and impassive as she examines the slaughter. She makes a careful sweep while the others...

Sirrel will clamber up onto the box beside Alysina. If talk is still going on, she'll do her sidekickly duty and aid Alysina's diplomacy check, suggesting that we've got a proposition for him, if he'll just calm down and let us talk. 24 on the diplomacy check. If he's started taking hostile or...

Appropriately enough, given my delay in updating, Sirrel's initiative is 5. With a speed of 20ft there's no way she's getting him in Close range this turn, so she'll just double move to the end of the pier.

Sirrel follows Alysina, sticking to the middle of the group so as to keep large people between herself and any incoming danger.

"Truly impressive. Next thing you'll be telling us you can deduce his height and eye color. I don't recognize the necklace, but I can see if the Library has any books that might help." I failed my knowledge history roll on yet another 3 (1d20+5=8). Hopefully the nice librarians can help. What...

Rystil's proposal earlier was to buy enough materials so that, if we had the opportunity to rest for most of a day after gaining some experience, Sirrel could craft a scroll with six copies of Cure Light Wounds, which the DMG prices at 75 gp and 6 xp to craft.

I wasn't sure if aiding on a Take 20 was allowed. If it is, Sirrel takes 20 for a 26, and aids with amazing success.

Sirrel pokes around a bit, but leaves most of the searching to the enthusiastic human. "The thieves must have known exactly what they were looking for. Nothing here has been disturbed...except him." She glances over at the corpse and shudders. Search 1d20+6=9.