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    Barbarians are a race...

    Well, for whimsy, here's a set of human subspecies based on the magical influences of their birth-realms. The "Totemistic Magic" birthright of those born in the "Barbarian Lands" essentially creates a set of barbarian races. You'll have to scroll down a ways though.
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    "The Screwtape Letters" as a model for demons

    I suspect that subtle, slow, indirect, corruption doesn't work well in d20. The desire to corrupt and seize souls to steal them, and ultimately the universe, from a monotheistic creator-god (who apparently lets many children die in infancy to prevent this very thing) won't work in most campaigns...
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    What was the origin of "Use Magic Device"?

    I believe there may have been some options for using other magical devices in the second edition "options" books and some of the material on adding new skills for high-level rogues. I vaguely recall that being in Dark Sun originally, but I could easily be wrong. It's been a long time since I got...
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    why are "create undead" and "control undead" so awful?

    I suspect that its because the designers didn't want characters being able to make undead that could make and command other undead until they were so powerful that that ability didn't really matter. Ergo a high level and a miserable base effect for the spell which would allow that ability...
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    EN World critique requested on my exp system

    Ah, the original Palladium/Arduin system. It's been a long time... Only problem with it is it tends to work with some character types and not others. How do you do things like "never missed" with a magic-missile specialist? Not that it can't be done, but each bonus and penalty you put in will...
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    Actually a Talent (see AE/IH): Swift Stider (Needs Critiquing)

    Given that the actual bonus is going to be +5 or +10, why tie it to the dexterity bonus at all? It's simply an intermediary calculation.
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    HBO's ROME Series: D&D campaign possible?

    A lot depends on how much actual magic you want. Do you want historical realism? d20 might not be the best choice for that.
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    What happens when you cast a spell?

    Since the scroll-user has to be directing the power of the spell on the scroll (since they get to pick the target, etc), I use the scroll-makers personal magical signature for the scroll, coupled with the users personal signature as he, she, or it, directs the spell.
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    Speed increasing item..

    There's a selection of movement enhancers in The Practical Enchanter.
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    What Knowledge Skill do you use/allow?

    Yes: that's why the general categories: Say you have Arcane Lore 6 (the base skill), and buy a +3 Speciality in "Glyphs" for one point. I suppose if a player wanted to get detailed, he could buy a +3 in "egyptian magic". That'd give you +6 in general arcane lore, +9 in arcane lore about glyphs...
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    These Shoes Are Made for Walkin'

    Well, they'd be more mobile. The general effect can be achieved by increasing movement and using split movement feats or effects, by variations on haste, and by effects that insert extra actions, ranging from something based on Expeditious Retreat up through an item based on Time Stop. The...
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    What Knowledge Skill do you use/allow?

    Allow: Anything that someone wants and comes up with a reasonable excuse for taking. Use: Whatever fits the current setting. For a more general structure? Well, for a quick generic system (I tend to make one tailored to a given setting) most things fit into one of the following catagories. Some...
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    I broke a bad habit

    Oh yes. At least one session for everyone to come up with the basics about their character, and then lots of between-game calls, conferences, and development. Some of them don't have the mechanics nailed down for weeks or months: they just hold back on a few points, feats, or whatever the...
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    Inherent Bonuses / CR Adjustments ??

    Well, the WOTC 3.0 "Savage Species" answer is pretty much "It depends", and in a lot of cases the old GM-judgement call works quite well enough. If you want a more complex answer, most point-buy systems have exact systems for adding up the values of various abilities. You could do it with BESM...
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    coming back to life after a disintegration?

    True enough for Ressurrection - but the fact that such a note is specified in that spell and not in Reincarnation still tends to leave it open. There's a notion for a handy spell though: a transmutation effect that changes some old hairs or other body fragments so that they were effectively a...
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    Unseen Servant & Bonds

    Well, that would depend on (1) the spellcasters level of foresight, (2) their ability to issue coherent commands while being interrogated and hit on the head, and (3) whether or not the commands need to be verbal - and while we know that an unseen servant has normal senses of some sort, there's...
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    coming back to life after a disintegration?

    Well, one can claim anything... The question is "will the GM let you get away with this?" - and nothing much said here will help with that. On the positive side, it shouldn't take more than a second or third level specific spell to reintegrate enough of those traces of dust to get a few small...
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    Unseen Servant & Bonds

    Well, it can do things that require a skill check at a DC 10 or less, as long as the skill in question can be used untrained. Small children can, with patience, untangle ropes and a lot of knots, so it can probably help out. If it can mend things, that means it can work a needle and thread at...
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    Improving the Quarterstaff

    Not quite: the biggest differences on the simple and martial weapons charts for light melee weapons are the Dagger and Kukri (6 GP) where you could make a generic dagger work as well as a "heavy curved knife". For One-handed melee weapons its Club versus Rapier (20 GP) and the rapier still...
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    Working on a class to match a character concept

    You might get more suggestions with a little more background - is this a fantasy campaign, d20 modern, a horror setting? Using straight WOTC rules or a variant? Other than that, there have been a variety of class evaluation and/or design systems floating around. If you just want to customize...
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