To anyone who bought the EPIC LEVEL HANDBOOK

[Forrester]

That's funny (not really), because you can already have items that give a skill bonus of +30 (and epic skill bonus is +31 or higher). You don't have to be epic level to get that. So technically, why should you have at least one? I mean, hey, you've been stomping around for 20 levels kicking the crap outta every baddie you find, saving entire continents from a fiery hell, yada yada yada. You're bound to get some nice equipment along the way.

Yeah, but an item that allows you to do something far better, unskilled, than the most most most trained person in the land can do it (without magic) seems to me to be kind o' silly. Items that give boosts, sure. But this goes back to the point of the other thread -- the OVERWHELMING importance of Loot to character abilities. Without their millions of gold pieces in magic items, most epic-level characters pretty much suck, unless they're wizards or clerics.

 

[coyote6]

Eh... if you were thinking 'la la la la la la la', those would be your surface thoughts. If someone read your surface thoughts at that time, that's what they'd pick up -- 'la la la la la la la.' You're not exactly disguising your thoughts, you're just turning yourself into a mentally gibbering idiot.

Now, I'm not saying it's not effective if you're trying to hide something, but I don't think it's quite the same thing as what is implied in the ELH.

Right. I'd assume the DC 100 trick would allow you to be thinking, "Okay, Elzar's distraction will draw the balcony guards away any moment, so I need to get next to the wizard so I can slit his throat before he can do anything to save the king from Lodin's arrow", yet have the king's surface thought-reading bodyguards pick up, "That's a marvelous doublet the prince is wearing. I must ask him who the tailor is. I wonder if it's elven."

 

[Forrester]

Eh... if you were thinking 'la la la la la la la', those would be your surface thoughts. If someone read your surface thoughts at that time, that's what they'd pick up -- 'la la la la la la la.' You're not exactly disguising your thoughts, you're just turning yourself into a mentally gibbering idiot.

Now, I'm not saying it's not effective if you're trying to hide something, but I don't think it's quite the same thing as what is implied in the ELH.

You know what I'm talking about .

Let's all go back to the Simpson's Halloween episode where Homer is trying to sneak up on Bart to kill him with an axe. (Because Bart is that 12-year old Twilight Zone boy that can wish people into cornfields, etc.)

Bart can read surface thoughts. Home sneaks up behind him with the axe thinking to himself "Just walk up to him, just walk up to him, don't think about anything, don't think about how you're going hit him with this . . . <POP>" and Homer is now a Homer-in-a-box.

I think it's unreasonable that Homer should have had to make a Bluff check with DC100 to fool Bart, epic-level though Bart might have been .

 

[kreynolds]

Yeah, but an item that allows you to do something far better, unskilled, than the most most most trained person in the land can do it (without magic) seems to me to be kind o' silly.

You are an exceptional hero/adventurer. Don't forget that. I know, I'm one of those crazy folks that think heroes should be far far far above the norm, and I figure +30 is far far far above the norm.

EDIT: Whoops. Forgot the smiley.

 

[Ristamar]

You know what I'm talking about .

Let's all go back to the Simpson's Halloween episode where Homer is trying to sneak up on Bart to kill him with an axe. (Because Bart is that 12-year old Twilight Zone boy that can wish people into cornfields, etc.)

Bart can read surface thoughts. Home sneaks up behind him with the axe thinking to himself "Just walk up to him, just walk up to him, don't think about anything, don't think about how you're going hit him with this . . . <POP>" and Homer is now a Homer-in-a-box.

I think it's unreasonable that Homer should have had to make a Bluff check with DC100 to fool Bart, epic-level though Bart might have been .

Hmm. Well, I don't know. As amusing as the example was, I think it comes down to a matter of personal taste. It's akin to arguing over whether or not a magical fireball shooting from a old man's gnarled finger would REALLY do X amount of damage.

 

[Kweezil]

Re: Dragon Strike

-snip-*What is the most fearsome spell is the "Vengeful Gaze of God" which does 305d6 damage to a target up to around 2 miles away -snip-

You forgot the Fortitude save for half

 

[hong]

You know what I'm talking about .

Let's all go back to the Simpson's Halloween episode where Homer is trying to sneak up on Bart to kill him with an axe. (Because Bart is that 12-year old Twilight Zone boy that can wish people into cornfields, etc.)

Bart can read surface thoughts. Home sneaks up behind him with the axe thinking to himself "Just walk up to him, just walk up to him, don't think about anything, don't think about how you're going hit him with this . . . <POP>" and Homer is now a Homer-in-a-box.

I think it's unreasonable that Homer should have had to make a Bluff check with DC100 to fool Bart, epic-level though Bart might have been .

Yeah, but this example involved Homer. I think that episode would have been funnier if Homer _had_ managed to get to Bart, not having had any thoughts at all for Bart to pick up.

Basically what the DC is for is to foil the detect thoughts spell, which is a de facto life-detecting spell. If all you want is to foil an interrogation, that's handled via Will saves vs zone of truth, detect lies etc.

 

[Metalsmith]

Re: Re: Dragon Strike

You forgot the Fortitude save for half

A GOOD reason to take the Templar Prestige Class.


Metalsmith
(who still thinks the idea of an adventuring Temple Defender is stupid)

 

[Plane Sailing]

Re: Re: Dragon Strike

Originally posted by zhouj
-snip-*What is the most fearsome spell is the "Vengeful Gaze of God" which does 305d6 damage to a target up to around 2 miles away -snip-

You forgot the Fortitude save for half

I wonder, can you use "Intensify spell" epic metamagic on that? Maximised and doubled?

 

[Paul_Klein]

Would a character look like a salmon swimming up a waterfall?