Dungeonhack 101 - Part 1 - Useful items

This is stuff I remember from back in usenets.

Not sure whom the original writer is, but if you recognize the writing, let me now. :)

Useful items

Used books
-Useful for starting a fire, relieving yourself, and thiefs who want to back up how they can use the "Read Languages" skill. Plus it's a book. You know, you read them.

Map/scroll case
-Prevents tearing, and probably a deal of, you know, FIRE. You just KNOW you're gonna come across a scroll or two eventually.

Torch*
-Light for non-infravision PCs, used to light oil wicks, plus a better weapon then nothing in a pinch.

Glass bottle(s)
-Watch "Die Hard." Plus get a bottle shattered in your face/eye.

Signal whistle
-In case you can't yell for some reason, or your voice won't be heard. Got seperated and ran into a troll with 8 HP? Give a (signal) whistle. (And hope your party isn't secretly Chaotic Evil.)

Boots
-I can't stress this enough. Always, always, ALWAYS have a dagger in your boot.

Gloves
Sometimes your going to want to be able to handle something without actually touching it. PC: "Okay, I open the lid to the treasure chest..." GM: "Hehehehe... Roll a save vs poison Hackboy, there was a contact poison on the inside of the lid." PC: "Uhn-Uh, oh ScreenMonkey... I am wearing light leather gloves!" Best 1gp I ever spent.

Cloak
You wear it as one, roll up in as a blanket, keeps rain off of you(and animal droppings) use it as a makeshift stretcher for a dead or unconscious comrade(personally, that's what the spell Animated Corpse is for) Lastly, you can always cut it into srips for bandages.

Chalk
use it on floors, walls wherever needed for a quick reference while on the run.

Towels: you can wear them, you can use them to dry off, you can use them to hold stuff, you can soak them in herbs and use them as poultices, you can use them to bind broken bones, you can use them as bedrolls, you can wet them and use them as modified whips or as a tool for bending bars, you can use them to filter gas, you can use them to strain water, you can use them to blind an opponent, and several other uses.

I can't believe you forgot rope, that's the thing with about 1000 different uses lol. All my characters make a point to carry at least 50 feet of rope, silk or otherwise, and a grappling hook for emergenices.

a small wooden ball
Cast a Light spell on it and roll it down the hallway in front of the party. Really tends to ruin the Monsters initiative.

You should buy a net.

Why? If you are in a room with a darkness spell seperating the party have one person take the net and walk though the darkness while another stands on the otherside. Then walk down the length of the spell catching what ever you can. Our group called this "Operation Dolphen Safe

Fill a pouch with flour. Hang it on your belt.
1) In an emergency, you can fling it in an enemy's
face, giving yourself a few seconds to act.
2) Use it against invisible attackers if you have nothing
better.
3) If someone steals your pouch, he might get the one
with the flour instead of the one with the money.

4)    trade it for a gold idol resting on a weight trap. Use it to mark doors or show if anyones been in a room (like say when you leave your room at the inn)

Potters clay...
Take and mould it around any Gems you find and dry them or fire them that way when someone tries to rob you all they find are these little rocks on your person.

crowbars? Not only for busting open chests and doors, but they make great alternatives to clubs, they can be used to find secret doors, nifty snacks for Rust Monsters, tied up with rope for makeshift grappling hooks, and a variety of other things

A dutch oven or skillet.. Make a handy weapon or cook a mean breakfast.

A bag of shiny, colorful glass marbles. Handy for deterring pursuit or for bartering with less-than-bright monsters.

A ball of wax. Useful for taking impressions, making molds of things like keys, covering weapons so they don't get wet and rusty. Occasionally useful for making disguises.

A set of clothes COMPLETELY different from what your character would normally wear. The guards might be looking for Wistrix the Wizard, but they might very well ignore the raggedy old beggar in the alley.

have noticed that noone has mentioned a map case...
they hold the parties scribblings about where they/ve been, or thier adventure log...etc.
They also are great when you take both ends off of it, and it makes for a dandy improvises snorkle when you ahve to go swimming

Another one, a bell, use the rope, tie the bell to it, and ring it around a campsite...a creature comes close, rings the bell, warnings are awesome....

one last thing....and this one is almost always left out in every character sheet I have come across......Caltrops
toss them down and your persuers are slowed almost immediately...and if they arent, well then you should have some good running shoes on, buz thats one tough monster after you behinds

Abacus.
Usefulness will vary widely from one campaign to another. But if it is at all useful in your campaign, it doesn't take up a lot of room or weigh a lot

Things no character can do without:
(Listed in the order they are in the PHB)
A keg of alcohol (great for trade, bribes, and throwing)
Belt
Boots
Cloak (thousands of uses, very cheap. a fantasy staple)
Gloves (protect your hands! AC 9 is better than AC 10 on crits, too)
Backpack
Large belt pouch (keep all your knick knack items handy)
Glass bottle (always carry a spare for collecting liquids)
2 large sacks (thousands of uses, and very light and cheap)
Wineskin
Bullseye lantern (because its better)
2 flasks of oil
Torches (always carry a couple for emergencies)
Iron Rations (always, ALWAYS keep a week's worth in reserve)
Chalk (atleast three sticks)
Mirror, small metal (surprising number of uses)
Rope
Signal whistle
Winter blanket (always nice to be prepared for inclement weather)
Flint and steel
Grappling hook (variable usefulness, but makes climbing much easier)
Whetstone
Ink vial (for writing and marking things; MU characters usually carry atleast 4 different colors)
Paper (atleast 5 sheets, or some other form of parchment)
Pen, quill (to write with)
Dagger/knife (yet another basic survival tool)
Sewing needle (so you can sew your own wounds and other's)

Winter blanket

Not to mention it can be cut up and used to help bandage wounds (esp if for whatever reason you are lacking on a first aid kit. Or take that empty glass bottle, fill it with lamp oil and stuff a strip of the blanket in the top, light and throw. The strips can also be used as makeshift gloves, just wrap around hands and touch what ever might have a posion on it then toss the strips (best part, don't have to get posion on your gloves either], and those are just some of the ideas of had.

......I never leave with a couple of fresh nets and greek oil or brandy......Makes a nice trap for monsters when you soak the net with before said item with flamable stuff....then have it drop on a couple of mobs with a flaming arrow to follow shortly........Gawd I love D&D.

1. Acid, so many uses: You can burn through stubborn locks, use it as an effective torturing tool (for those NPC's that won't spill the beans), burn through ropes, thin metal bars, etc.

2. Take some powdered peppers and put them in a belt pouch. In an emergency, you can throw them at your opponents eyes. Works like a pepper spray, they'll have a hard time seeing or doing anything else for a few rounds as they rub it deeper into their eyes

3. Twelve foot pole. Its a must to avoid traps, because those crafty GM's will think you have a 10 foot pole, so when you kindly discribe to them your 12 foot pole, they are going to be a bit miffed

4. Hard Liquor. I've seen far to many players think they can go for weeks without something to drink, and its especially useful as a molotov cocktail or to get a group of guards sloshed so you can take their stuff

Star Wars vii Synopsis - A (Hopefully) Funny Review

Star Wars vii synopsis.

It starts with "the 1st order" which is lead by (Felicity) Snoak, as portrayed by Andy Serkis.  This is easily the weakest part of the movie because Ceasar would have made a far cooler sith lord.

after trashing a town with an Obi Wan Clone we found out the truth about storm troopers: that they are secretly Wayans.

This Wayans trooper, whose has quickly named has decided he doesn't want to be a Wayans anymore, so runs away (and rightly so)

He at least acts way better then Snails from dungeons and dragons the movie, so gold star. :)

after Finn the ex-wayans frees what better be the son of Wedge Antilles, we cut across to the other lead.

A Hunger Games Girl that is known as Rey "Samantha Carter", because heavens forbid we have a flawed female protagonist.

She finds a magic 8 ball droid who changes her fortune.

This is the point where they decided to brighten the screen so we could actually see the action.

After escaping the stormtroopers whom decided to stomp the planet in search of the magic 8 ball droid, our heroes end up on the Macguffian Falcon.

It is pulled in where they meet some old guy and his Mog. Barf has never looked slimmer.

Naturally the old guy is Indiana Jones trying to get some rare specimens back to a museum where he is attacked by rival clans that want the specimens for themselves.

and just like in Indiana Jones, it destroys everybody not worthy.  In this case by eating them.

However Wayan's brand stormtroopers taste bad so it gives enough time for Rey Carter to save the day.

They then go to a generic cantina that is run by a golden girl, either Bea Arthur or Estelle Getty.  She is very easily the best character in the movie.

She tells Rey Carter that she isn't special enough and tries to give her a lightsaber, that causes Rey to run away screaming.

meanwhile we get a flashback to Joseph Goebbels doing a speech before they fire their "new and improved" death star that has blackjack, hookers and can be seen destroying Corescant and several other planets by Han, despite not being in the same solar system.

Finn is smart enough to take the lightsaber when Kylo Zuko forces attacks, where we find out he's a way better son to Indy then Shia Labeuf ever was.

he captures Rey Carter, but the rest of the cast are saved by X-Wings, which, because they are in an atmosphere, you would actually hear all those cool sounds.

They return to the rebel base.  Where we meet Princess Leia who could still rock the slave bikini if she wanted to, but Disney banned it so she wouldn't.  Han and Leia talk about where they went wrong with their son.  

but not before c-3p0 shows off his red right hand. He must have been making deals so I'm looking forward to seeing the results of it in future movies.

They then enter a meeting which has Admiral "its a trap" Akbar and Matt Parkman from Heroes discuss strategy. 

meanwhile Kylo Zuko tries to interrogate Rey Carter, but it doesn't go very well, so he sends Michael J. Caboose from the popular web series Red vs Blue but he lets her go.

Kylo Zuko doesn't take Rey Carter's escape very well, and throws a hissy fit, causing Simmons and Grif to backup down the corner.to be her friend, 

The x-wings attack for a bombing run, but because they had neither Luke nor Wedge leading the attack, they weren't very important.

Han tries to appeal to Kylo Zuko by saying he's a better actor then Shia, but gets cut down because Kylo Zuko felt like he was being mocked.

Barf takes offence and shoots him right in the side and then hits the explosives that he and Indy setup.

We then end up in British Columbia where it is snowing, where Finn does his best effort to actually succeed at something, but fails, just like in the rest of the movie.

so we take a page out of Lady Snowblood and have an epic fight that shows you really don't need training, just to believe.  

So remember that the next time you join a cult. 

They return back to hug Princess Leia, when r2d2 comes out of his a coma.  The truth is he was just tired of listening to c-3p0.

They then fly to the rocky shores of Ireland where Luke Skywalker gives us the "how far do I have to go before people get the message" stare and the episode ends.

In short

I loved it. :D.

Aquaman - Some thoughts

Some thoughts

1. I stand by my comments that Cthuhlu (or a copyrighted DC equivalent)is Aquaman's beer buddy/nemesis. it also explains the star spawn we saw in young justice in a child exchange program not unlike the new gods.
It's easy to punch the big bad, but having a rival lovecraftean kingdom under the sea that he has to politic, rather then war with doubles the potential. So instead of ruling the 7th season, it's more 3.5 with the star spawned underworld as a rogues gallery for contention.

2. Honestly, Aquaman's Trident needs to be on the same level as Thor's hammer in regard to its usefulness. I absolutely love his powerset in injustice: gods amongst us and the ability to stick a trident through a portal to attack from a bizarre angle just improved the character's combat set considerably.

3. Pacific Rim lays down a concept that has serious potential in an aquaman comics. Open a portal and have monsters flood in that only the king of Atlantis can stop.

4. Atlantis is known for it's technowizardry and while i'm not sure how much Arthur actually knows, he should know the basics and have the equivalent of a few "emergency items" when his fantastic physical skills fail him. Tsunami bombs anyone!

5. Setup a series of undersea bases that are top of the line and may one day be a threat to Arthur's rule, but they are settlers that really just want to live in peace. Take Sealab and play it straight. This is also a place where Black Mantra has diplomatic immunity and would cause an international event, if Arthur pulled out the big guns.

6. With the deadening of the seas, build new monsters. Take the nestine consciousness and base it on the Great Pacific garbage patch as it has been animated by microscopic creatures to become a threat all it's own. Mutate jellyfish as some sort of natural eldrich horror that is immortal, which may or may not have have help from Cthuhlu's forces.

7. The abyss is a cold dark forbidden place that is just perfect for more horror orientated stories and one theory that keeps being kicked around is that there is an entire subaquatic cave complex even below that. What's in the depths that even Atlantis fears to tread? Let the writer's decide. C

8. Are whales and dolphin's intelligent life? If so, they might not be fans. What if an experienced Orca learns technowizardry and thinks Atlantis has been sitting around while his people gets kidnapped by surface dwellers and raises an "Armageddon pod" that raids the seas for equipment and supplies to wage war against them. They are known as the seawolves of the sea for a reason and if they built "walkers" they might have a fighting chance.

There's a ton that can be done to make things interesting and just throwing this out changes could give a ton of stuff to work with.

Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition - What math I have found.

I like finding the spine for game design before I begin.

I had to do a ton of studies and the best material I found for finding the spine is:

Trailblazer (for the pc math)
A magical society beast builder (for the monster math)


Additionally I found the following for equations (rtf download)
Math for 3.5 dnd 

Christmas Villains - the 12 Days Gang

#christmas

Done in the manner of the royal flush gang in dc universe, I present the 12 days gang .

• Partridge: Commander and master of plant control; rarely seen without it's walking pear tree.
• Turtle Dove: the face of the group and master of vibrokinetic waves (uses these to influence both reactions of people and to strike them down).
• La Hen: the muscle, turns from an ordinary chicken to a feathered carnasaur
• The Caller: Give the power of preacher: one word commands.
• Golden Ringer: Think Gold Balls from the xmen. Able to generate solid gold rings that can expand and contract on command. master at ring toss.
• Geese "Laurel": master of akiddo, low level telepathy allows them to predict enemies moves to automatically counter.
• Swan the swimmer: Hydrokinetic hottie that carries a surf board.
• The Dancer: Able to open the dimensional portals with a jaunty jig. He also wields the christmas sword as seen in narnia
• The Leaper: Think bactroc, but more festive. he uses a lasso to tie up his enemies.
• The Piper: Summoner of animals, particularly rats. Arch Enemy of squirrel girl.
• The Drummer of doom: can use their drums to control the earth itself and lay down the smackdown

Why Thor has a great rogues gallery.

Thor hands down has one of the best rogues gallery overall.

EARTH: Red Hulk, Wrecking crew, Absorbing Man

9 REALMS: Loki, Enchantress, Skurge, Surtur, Malekith, Ulik, Frost giants, Hela, the midguard serpent.

UNIVERSE/COSMIC: Galactus, Heralds, Kree, Skrulls, Celestials, Ego, Gorr

hell, his rivalry with Hercules and Hulk could be considered something similar.

more importantly, you can draw heavily from nordic mythology and your dnd campaign for new material.

and often Thor's villains become Avenger's villains so it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Dungeons and Dragons 5e - What I want from previous editions.

#5e

New classes

Alchemist: The Pathfinder Alchemist is a work of art, and would love a 5e equivalent, with a degree of versatility. I can see it fulfilling the herb healer that isn't channelling magical energies, the bomb throwing anarchist, and the Jekyll/Hyde potion drinker with ease.

The Artificer is another class I'd love refined and presented as an effective pc class. This is the class that I didn't like in 4e, but darmed if I know how best to do it for 5e. 3rd made it a prep guy, but that's kind of boring.

Book of 9 swords was a response for the broken spellcasters in 3rd. I'm not saying no, but show me the need for them.

Divine Classes: I am completely convinced that a balance between the 4e divine classes (Avengers, Cleric, Invoker, Paladin) and 2e Forgotten Realms speciality priests would create the perfect system for belief based classes. 
I'd love it as a separate book, because honestly, clerics feel generic.

Tinkerer: I have a soft spot for a tech guy in a magic world. Hell I wrote a Artifex for palladium a while back that shows the raw potential of the concept. I ran a 2e Gnome Professor through expedition to the barrier peaks and it was awesome. Most likely this could be a reskinning of the artificer. 

Truenamer is one of those ones I really don't have an opinion on, but am curious to see what comes out because of it.

Magic of Incarum classes need to be sold to me. I had trouble wrapping my head around the concept and maybe an explanation would get me on the side.

Psionics I want only because it's involves my favorite villains: illithids. I have yet to be impressed by any psychic system, but 4e came the closest. If you want to know what I want in a level based psychic system, check out my free download Dark Revelations book of arrogance. 

-> I'd be okay with an ardent (aka psychic telepathy/tk person), eruptor (kinesis expert), and psychic warrior (bio-physiology and psychic weapons, whether ectoplasm or force energy based), split of the powers though.

Runesmith - really not sure, but won't say no.

Shapeshifter: We already have one, but I've been convinced for a long time, shapeshifting should have been it's own class.

Warlord: I've said my piece on Warlord on another post. if you want my opinion, read that. In short, I'm pro warlord (or for those that are terrified by the very name as an afront to your belief system, a Mundane Bonus Booster (MBB). )

As Sub Classes/Paths:

Acrobat/Jongleur: I'd love a really solid acrobat subclass of the bard/monk or thief. I blame a certain fury bikini on that one. .
I also think the following for the rogue makes sense: scout, shadow creeper, swashbuckler (to simulate everything from pirates to agile swordspeople) 

Bounty hunter: probably a ranger or rogue subclass, but there may already be something out there.

Cavilier: this one I'm very much on the fence on. I think it's best to be either a fighter or MBB path, but opened to negotiations. 

Charlatan: very much a sucker for this concept and it makes a great bard sub class

Greenwood Ranger: tree symbiote - oh heck ya. 

Hivemaster: bug druid - oh heck ya

Jester: agree heavily this is a bard subclass.

Riddlemaster: this so needs to be a bard subclass yesterday.

Shadowmancer: should be sorcerer or warlock path. It's a great concept, but it's more a power source then a class.

Sha'ir: good gravy man - I want this one bad. Most likely a sorcerer or warlock subclass.

Swordmage: The 4e Swordmage is the single best gish in dnd, bar none. Because it's built as it's own class, it has it's own feel. I don't know if it's needed with the Eldrtich knight subclass, but maybe it can be modified to better match it.

Spellfire Wielder: some sort of reskinned sorcerer could have potential if balanced with other classes.

Warden: The Warden would make an awesome subclass for the Ranger, emphasizing the magical abilities. Same with the Seeker. IMO The magic-less ranger should be the base class and the others variants (because Robin of Locksley is the base that all other rangers are based on)

One Last Thing

I did a design challenge to build a spellcaster with rules as simplified as the champion fighter archtype on rpg.net, and providing a link with the results.

I think some of you will enjoy it. 
 
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?768690-design-challenge-build-a-spellcaster-with-rules-as-simplified-as-the-champion-fighter-archtype