Things I May No Longer Do While Playing XII: A Thousand-Yard Stare is not Permission

[Anonymouswizard]

I can't make a transhumanist whose sole goal in life is to be able to walk around naked without violating public decency laws.

* My characters must have goals other then repealing public decency laws.


* May not come up with an actually compelling serious take on gnomes.
** Even if all I did was play up the dwarf aspects.
*** For the last time gnomes are silly inventors, not reclusive clans of loremasters and artisans.

From my creation of a Fantasy AGE/D&D5e setting spun off of discussions about D&D races with my girlfriend, but the take on gnomes has been simmering foot a long time. I've also got a take on dwarves that focuses heavily on religion and crafting, which I'm hoping will make the two races different enough to both include.

[Telok]

* I am not allowed to have D&D characters such as:
1. A DwarfFortress dwarf
2. An Athasian halfling
3. A gnome of Zurich
4. WH40k ork
5. Grimm's fairy tales elf
6. Any human based on a RL human (Torquemada, Richelieu, anyone ever referred to as "the Butcher", etc.)
7. A plutonium dragonborn or half-dragon
8. A warforged with any sort of transformation or shape changing powers
9. Tieflings named Edgy McEdgelord of Edgeville.
10. Any non-standard race/species

[Lord Raziere]

* May not insist that everything in the world is made of tiny dragons
** may not then try to exploit this because I'm an artificer
*** Eberron Dracoton Theory will never catch on.

[Rockphed]

9. Tieflings named Edgy McEdgelord of Edgeville

Why not? He would obviously be an edgesquire.

[Lord Raziere]

Why not? He would obviously be an edgesquire.

* My character may not be a happy Edgepeasant thankful that his edgebaron shoulders all the pain of ruling for him so he doesn't have to
** The Edge-Earls and Edgedukes do not argue with each other over who is more selfless bearers of pain so that the best one can be Edge-King rather than fight wars
*** There is no Kingdom of Edge and the Edgelords do not go "no, I rule alone! my suffering will bring happiness to my subjects!"

[Rater202]

*In Vampire the Masquerade, my Ventru's refine palet must be broad enough that it's feasible that I can... You know, actually, feed.
** "Middle-Aged Asian-American Strippers named Samatha who are independently wealthy and strip for fun and to show off how well they've aged becuase tey take damn good care of themselves" is too specific.
***"People who are currently in or identify as citizens of a nation on the North American continent" is not specific enough.

[noob]

* My character may not be a happy Edgepeasant thankful that his edgebaron shoulders all the pain of ruling for him so he doesn't have to
** The Edge-Earls and Edgedukes do not argue with each other over who is more selfless bearers of pain so that the best one can be Edge-King rather than fight wars
*** There is no Kingdom of Edge and the Edgelords do not go "no, I rule alone! my suffering will bring happiness to my subjects!"

**** There is no intelligent sword edgelord who decreed "suffering might be substituted by sharpness"

[SpoonR]

* I am not allowed to have D&D characters such as:
,,. anyone ever referred to as "the Butcher", etc.)

Unless they sparkle and are named Sig, or Curtis

[Anonymouswizard]

Unless they sparkle and are named Sig, or Curtis

* I may not claim that these sparkles have been passed down the Armstrong family for generations.
** Not that they haven't been, I just can't be related to the Armstrongs.

On that note...
* The Sorcerer should not be more buff than the Fighter.


* I cannot identify classes via facial hair.
** There are Fighters without moustaches, just like there are wizards without beards.
*** Warlocks are not restricted to goatees.
**** Not all dwarves are wizards.

[noob]

* I may not claim that these sparkles have been passed down the Armstrong family for generations.
** Not that they haven't been, I just can't be related to the Armstrongs.

On that note...
* The Sorcerer should not be more buff than the Fighter.


* I cannot identify classes via facial hair.
** There are Fighters without moustaches, just like there are wizards without beards.
*** Warlocks are not restricted to goatees.
**** Not all dwarves are wizards.

***** Nor are all the non wizard dwarves necessarily clerics or fighters or a mix of fighter, cleric and wizard.

[danielxcutter]

...Has anyone seen a dwarf wizard actually? The only example I can think of in official sourcebooks is the sample Runesmith, though maybe there’s something outside 3.5e.

[Anonymouswizard]

...Has anyone seen a dwarf wizard actually? The only example I can think of in official sourcebooks is the sample Runesmith, though maybe there’s something outside 3.5e.

Not as an official character, but I haven't read a ton of sourcebooks. I nearly played one in 3.5, because I decideds that out of the PhB races they had particularly good racial stat boosts forone (but +2 CON -2 CHA is just a pretty solid boost for aanything in 3.X), but the campaign never began. I've discovered that they somewhat suffer from the same problem as DEX-based Fighters, people go 'if you want a short wizard play a gnome'.

Yes, I literally got told in a Pathfinder game that when I put a 16 in Dex and a 10 in Strength I should play a Rogue and not a Fighter. Then I annoyed the party wizard by being quick to act (+7 Initiative), relatively sticky, and hard to take down. So the enemies all clustered around me and limited his ability to use AoE blasting spells when we'd have killed for a Sleep.

Yeah, the average player, even one who thinks they're good at optimisation, can have trouble wrapping their heads around noniconic builds. And considering we has six ranged characters and one frontliner sticky+survivable were my only two concerns.

[noob]

Not as an official character, but I haven't read a ton of sourcebooks. I nearly played one in 3.5, because I decideds that out of the PhB races they had particularly good racial stat boosts forone (but +2 CON -2 CHA is just a pretty solid boost for aanything in 3.X), but the campaign never began. I've discovered that they somewhat suffer from the same problem as DEX-based Fighters, people go 'if you want a short wizard play a gnome'.

Yes, I literally got told in a Pathfinder game that when I put a 16 in Dex and a 10 in Strength I should play a Rogue and not a Fighter. Then I annoyed the party wizard by being quick to act (+7 Initiative), relatively sticky, and hard to take down. So the enemies all clustered around me and limited his ability to use AoE blasting spells when we'd have killed for a Sleep.

Yeah, the average player, even one who thinks they're good at optimisation, can have trouble wrapping their heads around noniconic builds. And considering we has six ranged characters and one frontliner sticky+survivable were my only two concerns.

High dex increase aoo count but for good stickyness you also need a long ranged melee weapon and some mobility restrainer (like trip attack).
You could make a 1 str fighter kill reliably opponents and keep them stuck reliably but the problem with low str is not as much damage as it is the fact you will be limited in item count worn so you will not be able to get all the cool items in your inventory.(like weapons that can deal all the kinds of damages, a bow just in case you face flying, a rope and all the other classical adventurer items)

[danielxcutter]

To be honest, it sounds like your stats were the least of your problems. I mean if you only have one frontliner then fights are either going to be extremely risky or extremely silly, especially at lower levels.

Also is Pathfinder better with Weapon Finesse builds and damage than 3.5e? Personally the high Dex sounds okay, but I’d probably try to get at least a 12 in my Str.

[Anonymouswizard]

High dex increase aoo count but for good stickyness you also need a long ranged melee weapon and some mobility restrainer (like trip attack).
You could make a 1 str fighter kill reliably opponents and keep them stuck reliably but the problem with low str is not as much damage as it is the fact you will be limited in item count worn so you will not be able to get all the cool items in your inventory.(like weapons that can deal all the kinds of damages, a bow just in case you face flying, a rope and all the other classical adventurer items)

Nah, I had to buff INT for more AoOs, I think I ended up dumping Cha over STR just to carry a bit more gear. I knew due to the GM I wouldn't need to plan for every situation, I think I didn't start with a bow just because of resources and at least one character having two.

I specifically didn't build a tripper because the rest of the party was low-op despite the wizard's player claiming otherwise, I was sticky via being able to give a nasty hit to anybody who moved away. The main problem was getting the right two handed finesse weapon, I think I ended up with an elven curved blade just to avoid the spiked chain,

To be honest, it sounds like your stats were the least of your problems. I mean if you only have one frontliner then fights are either going to be extremely risky or extremely silly, especially at lower levels.

Also is Pathfinder better with Weapon Finesse builds and damage than 3.5e? Personally the high Dex sounds okay, but I’d probably try to get at least a 12 in my Str.

Eh, there's a couple more finesse weapons, and I think that's it. It was more I had the rolls for a decent STR or DEX, and I choose the latter for the AC points. Strength was just enough that I could get Power Attack online fast, it might have actually been 12? 1st level combat was fun, in the Dwarf Fortress sense.

But yes, we certainly needed a second front liner, a Paladin, Barbarian, or Cleric would have gone down a treat. But everybody picked an elf or half-elf with a wand or bow (we had at least two rangers), and the next player to join rolled up an archer Cleric.

By the time that group moved to 5e there were less of us but another player willing to be a front liner (Barbarians or slightly more hearty rogues IME). Made combat much easier, no need to optimise for stickiness as much as just being a vague threat compared to the druid.

When I'm not playing wizards (or warlocks) I tend to go for frontline builds just because they give the squishies an extra turn of support. I've never got to play a spellcasting Cleric because I'm too busy armouring mine up to hold the line.

[danielxcutter]

Nah, I had to buff INT for more AoOs, I think I ended up dumping Cha over STR just to carry a bit more gear. I knew due to the GM I wouldn't need to plan for every situation, I think I didn't start with a bow just because of resources and at least one character having two.

I specifically didn't build a tripper because the rest of the party was low-op despite the wizard's player claiming otherwise, I was sticky via being able to give a nasty hit to anybody who moved away. The main problem was getting the right two handed finesse weapon, I think I ended up with an elven curved blade just to avoid the spiked chain.

Elven curved blades? Are those a Pathfinder thing or did you just port the ones from Races of the Wild? Not bad, but you'd still need Str to -

Eh, there's a couple more finesse weapons, and I think that's it. It was more I had the rolls for a decent STR or DEX, and I choose the latter for the AC points. Strength was just enough that I could get Power Attack online fast, it might have actually been 12? 1st level combat was fun, in the Dwarf Fortress sense.

Oh. Never mind then. If my knowledge of PF is correct then I guess you could have grabbed Power Attack at level 4 or so, and that feat's not so great at lower levels anyways.

But yes, we certainly needed a second front liner, a Paladin, Barbarian, or Cleric would have gone down a treat. But everybody picked an elf or half-elf with a wand or bow (we had at least two rangers), and the next player to join rolled up an archer Cleric.

I'm not sure if it's the frustration or staring at a screen for hours that's giving me a slight headache right now.

By the time that group moved to 5e there were less of us but another player willing to be a front liner (Barbarians or slightly more hearty rogues IME). Made combat much easier, no need to optimise for stickiness as much as just being a vague threat compared to the druid.

That's nice. "Stickiness" is "force the enemies to focus on you or suffer even more" I presume? Also I hear Druids aren't really that great anymore in 5e, what can they do? Casters in general seems a lot weaker there. Except the Bard, looks like they got a lot of upgrades.

When I'm not playing wizards (or warlocks) I tend to go for frontline builds just because they give the squishies an extra turn of support. I've never got to play a spellcasting Cleric because I'm too busy armouring mine up to hold the line.

Funny, every game I've been in or applied to, I've tried to either be some kind of gish or made my character to go into that later on. Don't want to be a non-caster but don't want to miss out on the action either I guess.

[Anonymouswizard]

Elven curved blades? Are those a Pathfinder thing or did you just port the ones from Races of the Wild? Not bad, but you'd still need Str to -

Pathfinder, essentially a lower damage finessible bastard sword. In the core rulebook, so The GM felt forced to allow them despite thinking I should be a rogue.

Oh. Never mind then. If my knowledge of PF is correct then I guess you could have grabbed Power Attack at level 4 or so, and that feat's not so great at lower levels anyways.

I think 3rd? I left the campaign before it was possible, came back later when the group changed systems.

I'm not sure if it's the frustration or staring at a screen for hours that's giving me a slight headache right now.

That party frustrated me as well. Especially with how none of them could pick up 'use the d20 for skill checks and attack rolls' but the elfiness and bow-centrism was a part of it.

That's nice. "Stickiness" is "force the enemies to focus on you or suffer even more" I presume? Also I hear Druids aren't really that great anymore in 5e, what can they do? Casters in general seems a lot weaker there. Except the Bard, looks like they got a lot of upgrades.

Yeah, stickiness via threat instead of lockdown. After the first enemy to move away from you takes a large hit most intelligent enemies become less willing to do so.

And casters are weaker, but still generally better than martials.

Funny, every game I've been in or applied to, I've tried to either be some kind of gish or made my character to go into that later on. Don't want to be a non-caster but don't want to miss out on the action either I guess.

Oh, I much prefer to play casters, but I tend to find that frontliners are rare. I play wizards when I can get away with it, but that's not always possible, and most gishes will serve as frontliners.

[danielxcutter]

Pathfinder, essentially a lower damage finessible bastard sword. In the core rulebook, so The GM felt forced to allow them despite thinking I should be a rogue.

Elven courtblades are two-handed exotic weapons with 1d10 damage and 18-20 crit range, so essentially more like a finessable falchion. Maybe that's where Pathfinder got the idea, actually.

I think 3rd? I left the campaign before it was possible, came back later when the group changed systems.

Hmm. Power Attack still requires 13 Str in PF though. I thought stat gains were at every 4 levels like in 3.5e.

That party frustrated me as well. Especially with how none of them could pick up 'use the d20 for skill checks and attack rolls' but the elfiness and bow-centrism was a part of it.

Maybe they should have tried stabbing enemies with their ears then.

Yeah, stickiness via threat instead of lockdown. After the first enemy to move away from you takes a large hit most intelligent enemies become less willing to do so.

As someone has likely said, the best status to inflict on enemies is death.

And casters are weaker, but still generally better than martials.

I doubt Druids are as crazy as they were in 3.5e, but what do they have besides "gets up to 9ths"? 5e does at least give casters a lot of other things to do that isn't just "cast spells".

Oh, I much prefer to play casters, but I tend to find that frontliners are rare. I play wizards when I can get away with it, but that's not always possible, and most gishes will serve as frontliners.

Yeah, I did put ranged spells into my spellbook/spells known, but I was always going to be mostly about either using magic to make me hit things better or make it harder to hit me. Still, having the option is always nice.

[Rater202]

*I am neither the King nor Queen of Cheese.

*I may not play a Conan or Red Sonja inspired character unless I have the means to gain some degree of resistance to the elements, lest I deal with the consequences of skin cancer or frost bite.

[Socksy]

*In Vampire the Masquerade, my Ventru's refine palet must be broad enough that it's feasible that I can... You know, actually, feed.
** "Middle-Aged Asian-American Strippers named Samatha who are independently wealthy and strip for fun and to show off how well they've aged becuase tey take damn good care of themselves" is too specific.
***"People who are currently in or identify as citizens of a nation on the North American continent" is not specific enough.

I've been getting into V:tM recently too, and have just joined a group who are running a handful of games at the same time. Some of these have happened in play, some of them I've just thought about for too long.

* If my Malkavian is the sanest in the party, something has gone terribly wrong.
** Should refrain from giving the other players existential crises.
*** Doesn't matter how many water spells the Tremere has, she will not like being compared to an aquatic Gangrel.
**** The rest of the local Camarilla will not appreciate it if I turn all the odd numbers in their computer files into even numbers, even though superprime numbers are harbingers of doom and I told them at least twice to increase their cybersecurity.
***** Politely informing the rest of the group that one cannot spell "Sabbat" without "Abba" will derail the session.
****** Any comparisons between the Antediluvians and the Primarchs will also derail the session.
******* If the NPC has an Arthurian name, can't decline an invitation to his Elysium because "'tis a silly place."


* Diablerie is not "the forbidden snacc".
** I can't scream (IC) that another PC is a Baali because he's using Daimonion if I also have it, especially since I'm not a Baali either.
*** Shouldn't describe Celerity to the new players as "the mystical art of breaking the action economy".
**** Shouldn't describe Fortitude to the new players as "the mystical art of staying undead instead of becoming regular-dead".
***** There are several low level abilities that let me see in the dark, but activating them all at once doesn't let me see in the dark multiple times at the same time.
****** If the GM hates technomancy and doesn't allow it in games they run, using Spiritus to "communicate with the machine spirits!" will make said GM sad.

* The Fencing specialty of the Streetwise talent does not in any way affect my skill with a rapier.
** If I want to romance other PCs, probably shouldn't have played a ghoul who gets squicked out by the thought of sleeping with the undead.
*** All slang between 1850 and 2010 is not interchangeable.
**** I should remember how isolated the players are in lockdown before assuming they'll choose to save the wraith child from eternal torment, especially when the other option is to snort drugs off a Settite's breasts.


* Tremere ghouls do not turn back into pumpkins at midnight.
* Zulo Form has no place in a furry convention.
* The Tzimisce's clan weakness is not "nobody knows how to spell or pronounce Tzimisce".
* Ventrue antitribu are not called Venfalse.
* Can't play any Revenant house whose rules don't make sense.
* Bob Maali is not a suitable name for a Baali.
* I will remember that if one of us makes a terrible pop culture reference, we will all start making terrible pop culture references.
* The True Brujah aren't a Malkavian bloodline, even if I have a great argument as to why they should be.
* "Not being edgy" isn't a level 1 sin for Lasombra, regardless of their Path.
* On the subject of Lasombra, we should figure out how that mirror-based ritual that lets you see things how they truly are works on them.
* Exodia the Forbidden One is not an Antediluvian, Methuselah, or anything else.

[Rater202]

*here are a million better uses for a single-use artifact that permanently encodes something in your memory than memorizing all of the lyrics to REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It.

[Lord Raziere]

* When encountering a baby dragon hatching and its mutated by a mindflayer and it comes out having an octopus head, obviously my first action is to hug it
** Any concerns about the thing trying to eat my brain are unfounded, its just hugging me back with its tentacles
*** Think happy thoughts, THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS

* I can't be a Total Vegeta this
** Nor be a Kind Of A Katsuki Bakugo about that
*** Under no circumstances am I to be a Complete Sasuke about anything
**** I am however welcome to be an Absolute Killua about anything I want.

[BisectedBrioche]

* RPing your character bumbling into an obviously shady situation after biffing a perception check is fine, but having her wind up in debt to a bog crone for a full bag of tea (which she isn't even low on and could have just travelled an extra day for) is stretching it.

[Rater202]

I cannot go on a long, convoluted quest to become a God solely to learn what it;s like to have a fully functioning eye in the middle of your forehead.

[noob]

I cannot go on a long, convoluted quest to become a God solely to learn what it;s like to have a fully functioning eye in the middle of your forehead.

** It is not because you could instead go on a long, simple quest to kill all the gods then proclaim yourself a god then just buy some cyberware to graft an eye in the middle of your forehead.

[danielxcutter]

...If this is D&D aren’t there spells for that?

[Anonymouswizard]

** It is not because you could instead go on a long, simple quest to kill all the gods then proclaim yourself a god then just buy some cyberware to graft an eye in the middle of your forehead.

*** No badgering a Salubri for the Embrace just to avoid surgery.

* A prehensile tail does not give me bonuses to seduction rolls.
** Or to... look if I keep making the GM uncomfortable they'll take my tail away.

[danielxcutter]

*** No badgering a Salubri for the Embrace just to avoid surgery.

* A prehensile tail does not give me bonuses to seduction rolls.
** Or to... look if I keep making the GM uncomfortable they'll take my tail away.

About that...

[Socksy]

*** No badgering a Salubri for the Embrace just to avoid surgery.

****Asking the Salubri if she can navigate through the Warp, even if our Vampire game is set in a time when 40k has already been published, is just rude.

[danielxcutter]

****Asking the Salubri if she can navigate through the Warp, even if our Vampire game is set in a time when 40k has already been published, is just rude.

I don’t get it.