Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Getting that free smite isn't bad, if only to bypass DR and add my cha bonus to AC. Signifier isn't bad at all though, I think it gets full casting.

Yeah, though Smite Chaos isn't as big of a cha boost as Smite Evil for whatever reason. Hellknight is better in the actual PnP game, since favored enemy: demon isn't split into 3 different categories and the order of the nail would actually get you all of them rather than just one.

Signifer is great for wizards, yeah. I wouldn't take it for most spontaneous because it doesn't get bloodline progessions / level-based traits. Most wizards don't get shit after 10 except maybe a free feat. Divine casters can go into signifer but they can already cast in armor so I don't really get the point.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

Yeah, though Smite Chaos isn't as big of a cha boost as Smite Evil for whatever reason. Hellknight is better in the actual PnP game, since favored enemy: demon isn't split into 3 different categories and the order of the nail would actually get you all of them rather than just one.

That and armor training is a lot more valuable if you're running a lower magic game and aren't shitting out a haste every combat and are tripping over mithril constantly. They might be kind of cool if you went super low wealth too, then that free full plate is something extra special. Takes a little longer for Pathfinder to completely break down when you don't follow the recommended wealth per level chart, which has been shit since 3.0.

It still does of course...

 

[Agares]

My local group started a new P2E campaign and I made my character pretty much the elf version of Bossmanjack but without the crack addiction. And his name is Tyce.

 

[ZMOT]

Friendly reminder Dunkelzahn was used as a Donald Trump analog in Shadowrun. Here was the big celebrity real estate mogul in Shadowrun. In 1996, Shadowrun did modular about Dunkelzahn becoming president and faced assassins. Both failed attempts and a successful one by a magic missile. I find it amusing that both Topps and TTRPG downplay Dunkelzahn being literal Trump.

"real estate mogul" was one of the "bad rich guy villain" tropes for decades.
the trump analogy doesn't even make sense besides similarities because up until 2015 when TDS set in and got heavily pushed by MSM whores, trump was a very well-liked celebrity - that only changed when he left the democratic reservation. claiming TDS always existed is retarded rewriting of history. but then GW is now a beloved politician who's friends with ellen, he never was sold for a fucking decade as the literal incarnation of redneck hitler...

it's more sensible writing (extremists tend to be retarded / don't mess with the TPTB) than anything MUH TRUMP.

 

[Ghostse]

"real estate mogul" was one of the "bad rich guy villain" tropes for decades.
the trump analogy doesn't even make sense besides similarities because up until 2015 when TDS set in and got heavily pushed by MSM whores, trump was a very well-liked celebrity - that only changed when he left the democratic reservation. claiming TDS always existed is retarded rewriting of history. but then GW is now a beloved politician who's friends with ellen, he never was sold for a fucking decade as the literal incarnation of redneck hitler...

it's more sensible writing (extremists tend to be retarded / don't mess with the TPTB) than anything MUH TRUMP.

There were jokes in the 90s about Trump running for present re: Ross Perot. Trump was also known for living a conspicuously lavish lifestyle, which goes well with a Dragon.

But this is clearly pre-TDS, so the thought process is clearly
"What if we had an evil dragon celebrity who stepped into politics? The best template we have for a rich celebrity is Donald Trump, so what would Dragon Trump look like/act like/do?"
vs any modern
"LOL THIS EVIL CREATURE CHARACTURE IS TRUMP AND HE'S EVIL AND BAD AND STUPID AND SMELLS AND EVERYTHING HE DOES IS BECAUSE HE'S EVIL AND STUPID I am so fucking clever no one has thought of this before."

 

[AnOminous]

the trump analogy doesn't even make sense besides similarities because up until 2015 when TDS set in and got heavily pushed by MSM whores, trump was a very well-liked celebrity

Personally, I never liked Trump. He always struck me as a complete con-artist even as a kid. I was disgusted by his attacks on Ronald Reagan even at a time when I didn't even like Reagan. He came across as a smarmy, phony asshole talking out his ass. Still does.

Shit, sorry. Throw those moais at me.

There were jokes in the 90s about Trump running for present re: Ross Perot. Trump was also known for living a conspicuously lavish lifestyle, which goes well with a Dragon.

A major difference was Perot was a class act.

Also since you mentioned dragons and I don't want this post to be literally nothing but political sperging, how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

I tried to remember a single dragon enemy in any campaign I've run or played in, and couldn't remember a single one.

The only significant dragon in any campaign I ran was an NPC, a benevolent lawful good gold dragon who was the mission assigning patron type of NPC, and would sometimes intervene directly on the party's behalf (usually at a designated plot point).

 

[Blarmed&Dangerous]

Personally, I never liked Trump. He always struck me as a complete con-artist even as a kid. I was disgusted by his attacks on Ronald Reagan even at a time when I didn't even like Reagan. He came across as a smarmy, phony asshole talking out his ass. Still does.

Shit, sorry. Throw those moais at me.

A major difference was Perot was a class act.

Also since you mentioned dragons and I don't want this post to be literally nothing but political sperging, how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

I tried to remember a single dragon enemy in any campaign I've run or played in, and couldn't remember a single one.

The only significant dragon in any campaign I ran was an NPC, a benevolent lawful good gold dragon who was the mission assigning patron type of NPC, and would sometimes intervene directly on the party's behalf (usually at a designated plot point).

In more than twenty years playing D&D, I have never ran nor encountered as a player a dragon, nor anything that was technically speaking literally a dungeon. I once tried to run a West Marches campaign that did have a dragon in it, but the players never encountered it.

 

[The Ugly One]

I use dragons in almost every campaign. Dragons are badass. Painted dragon minis look badass. I especially like introducing the big ones long before the party is expected to be able to kill them, so we've got some fun trying not to get its attention, or piss it off, or whatever.

 

[EleventySeven]

Also since you mentioned dragons and I don't want this post to be literally nothing but political sperging, how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

I tried to remember a single dragon enemy in any campaign I've run or played in, and couldn't remember a single one.

My previous Pf1e campaign that I ran for three years completely lacked dragons on purpose so I suppose that counts. Gonna bust em out for the second campaign eventually.

 

[AnOminous]

I use dragons in almost every campaign. Dragons are badass. Painted dragon minis look badass. I especially like introducing the big ones long before the party is expected to be able to kill them, so we've got some fun trying not to get its attention, or piss it off, or whatever.

I had a dragon empire right next to where humans lived, but they never really interacted. And despite the empire having every single alignment of dragon, they had an ironclad non-aggression pact where they weren't allowed to attack each other. So they'd indirectly manipulate the other territories of the world, but they wouldn't war against each other.

You'd generally never meet them, except the ones like my gold buddy dragon that were trying to influence the world somehow.

I suppose they were basically scaly Jews.

 

[Ghostse]

In more than twenty years playing D&D, I have never ran nor encountered as a player a dragon, nor anything that was technically speaking literally a dungeon. I once tried to run a West Marches campaign that did have a dragon in it, but the players never encountered it.

4e is fairly rotten with Dragons - I'd argue over run because it makes them not special and players hardly view them as a threat.
Which given 4e is centered around solving your problems with Fantasy Superheroes punching things....

I use dragons in almost every campaign. Dragons are badass. Painted dragon minis look badass. I especially like introducing the big ones long before the party is expected to be able to kill them, so we've got some fun trying not to get its attention, or piss it off, or whatever.

Which is one of the things I've like about B/X is players having seen had a player go down to giant rats treat a Dragon with a great deal of respect. I've only had two B/X dragon encounters: One of the party wisely negotiated their way out of (which is the other thing I like about Dragons - they are expected to treat players as little bugs, but have very easy to understand and manipulate base desires) and the other was a sleeping dragon they were engaged in a running battle with Orcs and broke into a sleeping dragons lair. Both sides unilaterally declared an unspoken temporary truce as they silently and fast as they dared crept through the lair. The party got to the other door, the Wizard readied magic missile, and then cast it on the dragon as they closed, bolted and spiked the door, and then continued to run their asses off as the sounds of Orc Genocide echoed behind them.
To quote a player saying they were beelining for the exit "I'm not going to stick around long enough for the Dragon to realize orcs can't cast magic" which got the Theif, who wanted to make a detour to check an area they hadn't explored yet, realize the wisdom of said position.

 

[King Dead]

Our first campaign as a group was running the Essentials Kit, which I believe culminates in a fight against a white dragon. Unfortunately, we never got that far because, as I've mentioned before, we ended up taking a hard left turn into the DM's untested homebrew, and we never got out of it. We did meet a dragon in the early part of that, who was friendly and liked riddles but was a bit mad. Don't know what happened to him because the magical realm exploded offscreen due to a ticking clock element we weren't aware of. Like I said, untested, and painfully so.

Beyond that, the most we saw was a dragon far off in the sky while running Tomb of Annihilation, but no encounter. Not really surprising considering how hard it's been to actually stick with a campaign long enough to reach a level where we'd find one.

 

[strawberry15]

Which is one of the things I've like about B/X is players having seen had a player go down to giant rats treat a Dragon with a great deal of respect. I've only had two B/X dragon encounters: One of the party wisely negotiated their way out of (which is the other thing I like about Dragons - they are expected to treat players as little bugs, but have very easy to understand and manipulate base desires) and the other was a sleeping dragon they were engaged in a running battle with Orcs and broke into a sleeping dragons lair. Both sides unilaterally declared an unspoken temporary truce as they silently and fast as they dared crept through the lair.

you know what they sy: if you are fighting a dragon, then you lose the game. dragons are powerfull. greedy players should rob them, fighting is unnecessary.

 

[Ghostse]

The Thief really wanted to pocket some gold but was reminded that the wizard can cast glue.

I don't need to out the orcs or the dragon. Just you.

 

[Quintus]

how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

The second game I ran ended with a fight a against what was essentially a modified red dragon. One of my players rolled a nat 1 on his save against the breath and we said he was like Darth Vader or Malekith level burned by it. He was playing a edgy homebrew class we made, so now it's become an unintentional tradition that every character that is that class gets horribly burned lol. In games I've played or dmed only one character so far hasn't been burned yet. That's in the dark sun game though, so I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

Other than that? In the dark sun game I threw an earth drake at them. That's as close as you can get to a dragon without having to fight a sorcerer king.

 

[Henri Barbusse]

You wish. Nechronica of all things for example got an "official" translation in Italian: having the pleasure of reading the language, I did not exactly remember the parts about X-Cards, lines and veils, mental well-being an' shit in the fan-translated English version. But maybe they were there in the Japanese original and the Italians kept them, who knows?

For sure, the weirdass game about playing cobbled together corpses of (apparent) questionable age, in a post-apocalyptic world does indeed need X-cards. If they weren't there, they should have been added, certainly. But maybe they were there in the Japanese original, who knows?

And for sure the translator note that underlines how "we prioritized ease of access over direct translation" should not ring any bells. Maybe it was there in the Japanese original, who knows.

Nechronica is by Kamiya Ryo and he basically makes fetish games. Even Dracurouge where it's made explicit that the vampires don't have any sexual needs gets extremely fetishy about blood drinking. (I love the worldbuilding bit that chokers have replaced engagement rings because they symbolize the person's neck is spoken for when it comes to drinking blood.) He made the sex RPG Zettai Reido and one of his latest self-published books is for Call of Cthulhu ERP (and it does have notes on player onsent in it, but, you know, Call of Cthulhu ERP with womb parasites and tentacle rape).

Plus his previous work officially translated to English, Maid RPG, was censored. The item Iron Cross that gives your maid command over a squad of Waffen SS was replaced by something else that gives you wacky mooks. Because we can't have comedic nazis these days. Thought at least the translator openly admitted to replacing it.

 

[RSU 1741]

Nechronica is by Kamiya Ryo and he basically makes fetish games.

Also Golden Sky Stories where you play as benevolent local animal deities solving small problems in a charming little village/town in the middle of nowhere. Just don't check what the main artist for the book does in his free time. Just don't.

Thought at least the translator openly admitted to replacing it.

The translation of Maid would be quite different nowadays. Remember the translators openly thanked old /tg/ for helping them out,freely discussed pirating the content and even wrote an addendum where they placed everything that could not exactly fly in the main book... like the typical japanese proclivities that we both know regarding age. The SS item wasn't exchanged with "random wacky goons" but with Japanese extreme right-wing protestors and it was kind of neat. Kept the theme and mirrored it.

Remember also that the Maid translation sent the (at the time still somewhat relevant) people down at SA crying and shitting in anger. Nowadays the book would be full of stealth mis-translations and they would never admit it, let alone publish an extra discussing the changes and pointing out what was in the original and what got changed.

 

[Adamska]

Also since you mentioned dragons and I don't want this post to be literally nothing but political sperging, how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

I've had campaigns I've ran and been in that never had them get encountered, but nah, I've run into dragons before. I think that if you play DnD the odds approach 1 that you will fight or encounter one simply due to it being a great threat to deal with or an interesting challenge or figure that can loom in the lore.

But the one dragon encounter that was hostile that I most fondly remember was we were just exiting the dungeon. Our DM was using an encounter table, and as soon as we left, a fucking white dragon was flying above us. We took one look at it, and moonwalked back into the dungeon to wait the fucker out since hell fucking no were we gonna fight that.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Imagine playing a Paladin and not a based Necromancer lmao. Paladins could never understand how awesome having skelebros are.

Late to this one but I will refer you to the counterpoint that is the Bone Knight (from Eberron) for a paladin prestige class that appreciates undead Paladin is a suboptimal choice

Sure you lose some paladin stuff but your Lay On Hands works on your undead bros now. Fist bump those HP back up.
No fancy celestial pony but the skeletal steed you have to replace it not only will keep going long past the old option you had has succumbed to fatigue (like a pussy) but your undead ride is also immune to turning while you're in the saddle.
One of your buddies or some of those NPCs out there got more undead chums than they know what to do with and want to hand the rank and file to someone else? You can handle some of them and even if they are good for little else they can carry the kegs.
Not happy with all these sub-par mindless undead your buddies can provide? Eventually you get to be able to make Karnathi undead, AKA intelligent zombies or skeletons. When a living bro finally dips out of the great game of life you can be there to get them back up to keep on raging for a bit longer with enough smarts to remember where they stashed the booze.

All of this is almost certainly incredibly out of character for the setting it comes from but frat head B(r)one Knight is now on my list for concepts for my more permissive GM's games.

 

[LovisXVI]

Also since you mentioned dragons and I don't want this post to be literally nothing but political sperging, how many people out there had a D&D campaign, played D&D for years, and never once had a dragon as an enemy to fight?

Only time I have used a dragon in my games is either in SR as a looming threat or employer (same thing really) or just as something that is out there "lives on that there mountain", but never as an enemy.