Search results

According to my books here, the monk first appeared in Blackmoor, not in Greyhawk. In any case, you're right about the origin of the cleric, and I suspect a similar story for the monk. It's also worth noting that monks at that time were mostly Lawful, but could be Neutral or Chaotic.

After all these years, I still think that the best introduction to RPGs is Frank Menzter's D&D Basic Set from 1983. (If you look to pick one up, be sure not to confuse it with D&D Essentials, which is using an almost identical cover.) It only introduces the game mechanics and other elements as...

Indeed. I feel the same way when I see errata like this. But I don't think it means the first printing was necessarily rushed. In any case, you have another option: 4) Stick with 4e (or whatever game you like) and use Fantasy Craft for some of the many great ideas it has.

It's harder to find groups who already play 2e these days. Also, it's harder to get people to play a game if the books are out of print. I know at least one person who was able to get his group to try out 1e simply because they had access to the OSRIC books. I know, you can pick up used copies...

Given that he thought it was $49.99 for the PDF, which is the same price for the print version, I'd say his reaction was entirely appropriate.

This reminds me of the time my 2nd or 3rd level character acquired a ring of invisibility. It turned out that a certain powerful and wealthy family wanted it back. I tried to evade them. In the end I gave up. I suppose it was a reward from the DM that they just let me go.

As a player, I've received bonus feats (e.g., everyone got an Exotic Weapon Proficiency when a martial order offered us some training) and sometimes bonus skill points (e.g., a rank in Knowledge (textile trade), which actually proved useful). One DM gave us "mundane magic items" (e.g., a magic...

The idea of a favored class need not be racial or cultural. It could be more individual. Someone primarily trained as a fighter, say, gets a little extra out of being a fighter. But it's very easy to houserule back to the 3.x favored classes while still using the PFRPG mechanics.

Even a +2 to CR would be too much. A regular 15th (say) level NPC is CR 15. Two CR 15 creatures have an EL of 17 (CR +2). Since two regular 15th level NPCs have twice the actions of a single 15th level gestalt NPC, the EL of the latter wouldn't be as high. So, at most I'd give it a +1.

Huh... I must have somehow forgotten that bit by the time I decided to reply. That's pretty funny, actually.

Here's another suggestion for prestige classes - why not convert some of their class abilities into feats? With the right prerequisites, you can emulate PrCs fairly well.

How about with only one word each? OD&D: Potential BX/BECM: Straightforward 1e: Dungeons 2e: Story 3e: Options 4e: Tactics

No, intersubjective agreement is certainly a possibility, even though it may require a fair bit of work on the part of those having a discussion. Case in point... I think I understand what you're saying now. I don't think you fully see the point I was making, and I still take issue with how you...

Yes, to err is human. But errors remain errors. Look, I understand all of this. As I said, the position you hold seems to be a reasonable one. I was not criticizing your position, I was criticizing the argument you made about preconceptions. Do you understand the difference? True, but this...

I may well have, but you're making it easy to do so. But that's not the argument you made. Here's what you said earlier (the bolded part is my own for emphasis): You said that including flavor leads to problems in the game. Here you say that same problem (your word) applies to published...

Hold on. If what you say is a serious concern, then that would undermine the whole point of having campaign settings. At the end you acknowledge that some assumed details need to be in place. But the rest of your arguments imply a rather strong claim, that flavor text is a bad thing because it...

But it seems that the complaint is that including flavor would mean that some people would refuse to deviate from it. My point is that this is not a problem with any book, but with those people. Besides, even if the situation were not symmetrical, the same problem would apply to 4e. The 4e MM...

If that's a problem, then wouldn't it equally be a problem that a lack of flavor will lead people to assume there's nothing there? Slavish adherence to the letter of what's in a rulebook goes both ways. Nonsense. My wife and I read many books every year (novels and nonfiction alike), as do/did...

No. The concise game mechanics can be listed in stat blocks. Proper flavor text can come after that. I don't recall the 2e books, for example, being any more prohibitive in cost than the 4e books.

On this point, I should point out that I have used alignment and paladins in S&S games. The sort of thing I've been thinking about recently is what I posted about above. As I said, though, there are other models. I've run games that used Law and Chaos as objective forces (but not good and...