Game of Death

[reapersaurus]

reaper; with the Netbook, the only things getting cut out are splatty items and PrC's. besides, if there's some specific thing you just need out of the splatbooks, you can ask him and if he approves he'll repost it here so everyone can use it.

besides, Number47 has already said that he has none of the splatbooks. if we just use OGL stuff, that means most of it will generally be online and free for the downloading to everyone.

How exactly would I find .... The Quintissential Cleric PrC's online, Seap?
How could I peruse Sollir's Encyclopedia Arcane series to determine the best ways to counter the cheese that's in there?

Trust me - I fear there's more than enough completely broken stuff in the OGL to substitute for WotC non-core stuff.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that I'm trying to look out for the integrity of seasong's good-looking Game here (parity of competition will probably not be enhanced by allowing OGL stuff in), and also save us players a lot of reading and acquiring of countless pages of potentially-dominating OGL material, that you really can't defend against it all anyway.

The only option that provides for universal access to material is going only core material for this Game.
However, I don't think that is very interesting, and actually favors people who only concentrated on core stuff, though we all could re-learn power gaming to only include core material.

Seriously, I don't think we should be limiting the excitingness of the game just because Number47 doesn't have access to splatbooks. (no offense, #47)
I don't think his competetiveness in the Games has been hampered, and he could always get them if he wants to use them in the Games.
A survey might be good - who has access to material from the splatbooks? (remembering that much of them has been talked about and posted for years on the ENBoards).

edit: Breakdaddy, I'm sure it was already posted:
I think it's Max HP's for all levels for PC's.
Max @ 1st, then half-HP's (literally) for cohorts.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Thanks, I am currently making hard copies of all the pertinent postings, and lo and behold, you are right. Thanks for the heads up reapersaurus.

-B

 

[Number47]

I don't really mind if others use sources I don't have. The important thing is, what does the DM own? I wish there was some proof that people using the books actually paid for them, but unfortunately pirating is rampant and we can't prove what we own over the internet.

 

[Number47]

When you said Language A, B, C or D, did you literally mean that there are only four languages available to know?

 

[seasong]

Whew, quite the discussion broke out while I was eating and running down to my FLGS for more books .

First, Big Comment: I am not allowing any and all OGL in. You will not have to know every OGL item out there. OGL is allowed (read the rules) on a CASE-BY-CASE basis. And if I DO allow it, I will also repost it here, where everyone can see and think about counters. I can do that with OGL, whereas I can't do that with non-OGL.

There is a veritable ton of OGL stuff out there, just like there is a veritable ton of WotC stuff out there... but only a small subsection of it will actually be in this game (probably 2-5 items per person, so maybe 50-60 items to read, tops).

Second Comment: Switching to splatbooks will change only ONE thing: I can no longer repost the stuff here for public view. If it's OGL, I can post it, and everyone gets equal access to the horribly broken whatever I allowed in the game. If it's a non-OGL splatbook, I can't. That's it. That's all that changes.

Third Comment: Please understand that my goal is not to make sure everyone has equal characters/strategies - just that they have an equal chance at equal characters/strategies. If you make a weak character, I won't save your butt.

And similarly, I'm not going to nerf a strong character just because they're strong - if someone has an boring "walk here, smackdown, walk there, smackdown" character, I'll nerf it the minimum necessary to make it not boring, but no further.

That's why we're discussing the wall of force issue, for example.

Breakdaddy

What reapersaurus said: max hit points for PCs, max at first + average for all NPCs and similar things.

Number47

Naw, you can know any languages you want to spend a skill point on. But you automatically know Language A, and all command words (and similar things) MUST be written in A, B, C or D. But if you learn draconic, and want to yell something in draconic that only other draconic speakers will get, you can do so.

The reason for it is just to simplify my job - I'd really rather not keep track of 40+ items in 12+ languages and who can read what. For character creation purposes, it means 4 skill points and you're good, unless you want to yell something in a different language.

 

[Number47]

Four skill points? I don't follow that. Do you mean that everyone knows language A and can know languages B, C and D for six skill points (cross class), or three for bards? I assume these languages can also be taken as bonus languages for a high intelligence?

 

[seasong]

No, that was just my math error. I meant 3 (THREE) skill points. And yes, they can be taken as bonus languages.

Actually, if people stress about this, I'll probably just reduce everything to language A. The goal is to not have to worry about command words. That's all.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Also, will we be able to loot the bodies of those we have beat down or will they vanish in a similar puff of smoke to that which they originally appeared in?

 

[seasong]

Breakdaddy: There is no special house rule involved here. No disappearing in a puff of smoke, no dissolving into the ground .

However, keep in mind that looting takes time, identifying magic takes time... and every round you are doing that instead of fighting or performing, you are losing points!

 

[seasong]

You do realize OGL stuff includes some stuff which may be considered broken in like: the encyclopaedia arcane series. Not to mention they're very rules heavy, to allow someone those is like to force everyone else to read through 10 pages of rules to find out its weaknesses or strengths or just general mechanics...

This brings up something I should have thought of, and so I'll say here and now: I'm not accepting new rule sets, OGL or not. I'm not allowing psionics because I don't understand them well enough, and the same thing applies here.

You can ask me to allow an OGL feat, magic item, spell, PrC, weapon, etc. Don't ask me to include Elements of Magic new system for spell casting - I don't understand it well enough, and I'm not going to ask everyone else to learn it, either.

And to make clear once again: The only rules you will have to deal with are the core books, those that I post in this thread, and those I have to make in-game (which I am hoping to minimize by hashing it all out in this thread ahead of time).