HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd


Heck, *any* "humanoid" type creatures, in large numbers, can be deadly.
In a campaign I've been in for over a year now, the GM had our party
just about done in by a small horde of fanatic kobolds...  They had
a couple of pet rust monsters, which they unleashed and sent in first
to distract us, and then they rushed us.  Even a seasoned warrior will
be hard pressed to defend himself when 6 or 8 kobolds start leaping on
him, grabbing his legs, tripping him, biting and pummeling, hanging off
his arms so he can't get a decent swing...

dm
From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Intelligent Opponents (A summary of some email)
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:50:38 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1bi2u3INNacc@master.cs.rose-hulman.edu>,
   parkerma@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Mark A. Parker) writes:
> In article <1992Oct14.073234.3023@usage.csd.unsw.OZ.AU>  
>    barnett@agsm.unsw.oz.au (Glen Barnett) writes:
>> From: Knut Torstein Skomedal <skomedal@solan.unit.no>
>> By the Way: If your players use that nasty Stoneskin spell, try this on
>>  for size:
>> Stoneskin protects from magical weapon attacks, but isn't powerful  
>>  enough to 
>> stop +5, +6 and Vorpal weapons(House Rule picked up at a convention  
>>  duel)
>> Thus your Stoneskinned PC's are equal to monsters that you need +5 or  
>>  better
>> weapons to hit for the spell duration. 
> 	If you take it the spell name as literal (i.e. the caster now has  
> skin as hard as rock), wouldn't regular vorpal and sharpness weapons still  
> cut them? These weapons still decapitate/dismember stone beings on high  
> rolls, so would they still work on the mage?
> 	Just an honest question.
> 					Mark Parker

   Well, if you take the spell name to mean the literal translation, then
yes, that would work as you describe.  But in acuality, this is not how the
spell works.  The caster's skin is not changed to actual stone, just takes on
the toughness of stone, providing immunity to attack(s) and any results
thereof.  A vorpal sword will not sever the head of a stoneskined person
(unless you are using the optional house rule listed above), since the
stoneskin would block the damage and vorpal power of the blow.

   House rules, obviously, can make exceptions to this.

                                        John "Nightwind" Boelter

--
*******************************************************************************
* John Boelter        a.k.a. Nightwind            boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu *
* Organizational Manager and contact person for everything and then some.     *
*******************************************************************************
* The individual who said we only use 10%  * The first 90% of a task takes    *
* of our brain's mental capacity, was      * 90% of the time, and the last    *
* probably 90% incorrect.                  * 10% takes the other 90%.         *
*            -Unknown comic on A&E-        *   -99 rule of Project Schedules- *
*******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: david@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu (David Bump)
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 15:04:18 GMT
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

rsm58307@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Ron) writes:
>>>>The previous post suggested that healing takes a proportion of hp rather
>>>>than a fixed amount,  In that case, you might as well give everybody fixed

>>>would have been pancaked, even though they landed in water.  In a fantasy
>>>setting, this fits.

>>Actually, as I understood it, Gandalf and the Balrog were both killed in the
>>battle (and thus Gandalf was reborn as the more-powerful Gandalf the White.)
>>But, I digress...
>>					---Chet Zeshonski

>Actually, I think you're wrong. Gandalf and Balrog feel and then Balrog
>chased Gandalf all the way up the stairs to where the lord of Eagles took
>Gandalf away.

I don't think it would really matter how long either Gandalf or the Balrog
fell, because the Silmarillion described them both as immortal creatures.
I forget the exact name, but they were just lesser cousins to Morgoth, etc.
The Maiar or something like that, I think....


David Bump           david@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu
From: rsm58307@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Ron)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Date: 16 Oct 92 05:35:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw78vG.102
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


>>>The previous post suggested that healing takes a proportion of hp rather
>>>than a fixed amount,  In that case, you might as well give everybody fixed
>>>hp, and say that higher levels and HD reduce damage, e.g. everybody has
>>>20 hp, but to the man at arms a sword does 2d12 (very
>>>dangerous), but to the high level fighter it does a mere 1d4.  Healing
>>>rates are as before, though.  This carries some problems too, but it stops
>>>the problem of horribly inflated hit points: even the DMG gave one example
>>>of this problem: 100 hp people walking off cliffs, knowing they wont die!
>>         ^^^^^^^
>>I don't see this as a real problem in a FRPG.  In a fantasy world, you
>>have heroic people who can do unreal things.  For example, in Tolkien's
>>_Fellowship of the Ring_, Gandalf and the Balrog fell down the chasm in
>>Moria.  They fell for *days*, yet were not killed when they landed (nor
>>were they killed by each other, for that matter).  In the real world, they
>>would have been pancaked, even though they landed in water.  In a fantasy
>>setting, this fits.

>Actually, as I understood it, Gandalf and the Balrog were both killed in the
>battle (and thus Gandalf was reborn as the more-powerful Gandalf the White.)
>But, I digress...
>					---Chet Zeshonski

Actually, I think you're wrong. Gandalf and Balrog feel and then Balrog
chased Gandalf all the way up the stairs to where the lord of Eagles took
Gandalf away.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: thealien@unlv.edu (Sean McCarthy)
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Organization: UNLV
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 04:42:17 GMT

In article <UepCbFK00Vp8M6Q0pR@andrew.cmu.edu> you write:
>
>
>
>>Another point is that you need the mightiest of healing to restore
>>damage a peasant with 4 hp took falling a wagon.  If he took 3hp of
>>damage, you need a 7th level spell!  The system just seems to have a
>>few bugs.
>Perhaps a minimum of 1 point of healing for any spell?  
>
>>Other than that, it's good idea.  I like the increased rate of healing
>>for a hero, but the system with spells is a bit much.  If it did 20
>>points of damage, no matter who you are, cure "light" isn't going to
>>do it.
>Really?  20 points of damage to a 100 hp fighter should be roughly
>equivalent to 1 point to a 5 hp man at arms (they're both nicked and
>bruised).  Why shouldn't cure light wounds work?  It only heals nicks
>and bruises on the weak?
>
>	joe
		Have you ever noticed that in fantasy, while heroes
have SUPER(tm) staying power, they also get the harder to cure
injuries?  You're not just dealing with scratches, you're dealing with
a decline in the person's superhuman luck, endurance, etc...  The
spell just doesn't have enough energy to give that all back.
		On your commment "perhaps a minimum of one point" you
still end up saying "Yeah, and the peasant needed three cure light
spells...he got cut once by a knife"(dam 1-3 in our campaign).
		Remember, priests can and should AWE normal people
with their healing abilities.  But higher level spells were never even
meant to deal with them.  Note Heal, which when cast our example
peasant, could conceivably not HEAL HIM AT ALL!  These are amazing
measures(high elvel spells) for powerful people... If you can be
amazingly tough, you'll get amazingly tired!  Just some thoughts.



____________________________________________________________________________
Sean McCarthy IS             {  }"I'm told it's my duty to fight against
thealien@cs.unlv.edu          }{   the Law, that there's freedom in my blade
thealien@redrock.nevada.edu  {  }  and that wizardry's my trade.."
"Chaotic is NOT Evil!"- Me    }{    -Black Blade by Blue Oyster Cult
From: parkerma@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Mark A. Parker)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Intelligent opponents (Birth of Dracolich)
Date: 16 Oct 1992 04:55:19 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department at Rose-Hulman
Reply-To: parkerma@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Mark A. Parker)
NNTP-Posting-Host: o231-16.nextwork.rose-hulman.edu
Keywords: Lich, origins

In article <15121@chalmers.se> d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell)  
writes:
> In article <1992Oct12.233914.3@vortex.gici.com> laut@vortex.gici.com  
writes:
> >In article <14954@chalmers.se>, d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil  
Jonell) writes:
> >> [Is there any D&D trivia master who knows when the lich was invented  
and what
> >> the first adventure involving a lich is named?]
> 
> >[Greenwoods dracoliches]
> 
>   Ok, perhaps I was unclear. I used the word invent in the meaning:  
"Ernie
> Gygax invented the Beholder" and not "Mordekainen invented many spells".
> 
>   The only reference to Lich I've found in mainstream dictionaries have
> been the word 'lichgate' which is the gate in the wall around a  
graveyard
> where the corpses are taken in. 'Lich' is supposed to be an Old English 
> word for 'corpse' 
	
>   I haven't managed to find a reference to a supernatural monster called  
lich,
> so I have to assume that it is an D&D invention that got an old word for  
dead
> body slapped on since a name for an undead was needed.

	Sounds about right. I think they did this with the wight as well.

	I don't know what module the lich first appeared in. I think a  
dracolich was first mentioned in one of the S series modules (either S1 or  
S3, I can't recall which); it wasn't DETAILED in the module (no stats, I'm  
not even sure if there was a good description), but there it stands. I've  
found the demi-lich only in one of the most recent modules ("Nightmare  
Keep", talk about a death adventure!!), which just came out within the  
last two years, so it probably appeared somewhere before that. The actual  
lich creation process appeared in Best of Dragon II, where you can  
probably get a reference to which issue the article appeared in. Role-aids  
put out a sourcebook called Lichlords, but I think it's out of print  
(blast!). "Lords of Darkness" contains an adventure with a lich in it,  
although it, too, is fairly recent.
	Hope this helps to confuse you.
					   Mark Parker
					(Zdellet Saud)
From: moore@gibbs.oit.unc.edu (Hall Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:52:27 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina

In article <1992Oct8.032851.26597@Princeton.EDU> tao@fine.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:
>The previous post suggested that healing takes a proportion of hp rather
>than a fixed amount,  In that case, you might as well give everybody fixed
>hp, and say that higher levels and HD reduce damage, e.g. everybody has
>20 hp, but to the man at arms a sword does 2d12 (very
>dangerous), but to the high level fighter it does a mere 1d4.  Healing
>rates are as before, though.  This carries some problems too, but it stops
>the problem of horribly inflated hit points: even the DMG gave one example
>of this problem: 100 hp people walking off cliffs, knowing they wont die!
         ^^^^^^^
I don't see this as a real problem in a FRPG.  In a fantasy world, you
have heroic people who can do unreal things.  For example, in Tolkien's
_Fellowship of the Ring_, Gandalf and the Balrog fell down the chasm in
Moria.  They fell for *days*, yet were not killed when they landed (nor
were they killed by each other, for that matter).  In the real world, they
would have been pancaked, even though they landed in water.  In a fantasy
setting, this fits.

>
>actually, I think a lot more than 20 hp is needed.  But while weapon damage
>can be proportionally reduced per level, other damage perhaps is not so
>easy to shake off..hmm you can actually drum up quite a complex system
>really.. 
> 


-- 
* For purposes of complying with the New Jersey Right to Know Act,
  contents of this post partially unknown.
From: barnett@agsm.unsw.oz.au (Glen Barnett)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Intelligent Opponents (A summary of some email)
Date: 14 Oct 92 07:32:34 GMT
Organization: The Australian Graduate School of Management
Originator: barnett@mummy.agsm.unsw.OZ.AU

Some time ago I wrote:
>This thread was quite interesting in that a number of reasonably intelligent
>ways for a lich to be more than another lamb to the slaughter were put
>forward. What other ideas for other monsters (or ideas in general) can
>you crafty xdnd DM's put forward?

And some nice people sent me mail. I posted a request for them to 
post to the group as I had corrupted the file and others wanted
to see what they'd written. I just now found a part of
it in another file, which I give here. I think one of these at least
has already appeared, but to make sure no-one misses anything:

From: Master Hawk <fannicm@WKUVX1.BITNET>
Subject: Intelligent opponents (was Re: Lich & Demi-Lich...)

   Wellllll, I won't go into get detail, but consider nice things like
dragons...What if their claws can manipulate wands, won't he use the ones
in his hoard?  Maybe he has a few rings on somewhere...  What if he has
charmed an illusionist sometime in the past?  (Cast an illusion of a dragon
sleeping, cast imp. invisiblity fly up to the top of the cave and hover...)
What's to say that he doesn't a few nasty traps set up at the entrance to
his lair (shriekers, carefully planned cave ins, explosive runes,
contingency spells, guards and wards, symbols, you know...the fun stuff
:-] )

    Humans with mages are just as bad, if not quite as powerful..They have
access to most of the above.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Knut Torstein Skomedal <skomedal@solan.unit.no>

Since you ask: if you have a handy swamp close by, the spells Charm Plant
and Lightning Bolt in conjunction with a Shambling Mound works really well.
There is no official upper limit to how many HD a Shambling Mound can attain
when you blast it with Lightning Bolts, so you can make the bouncer as powerful
as you like.

By the Way: If your players use that nasty Stoneskin spell, try this on
 for size:
Stoneskin protects from magical weapon attacks, but isn't powerful enough to 
stop +5, +6 and Vorpal weapons(House Rule picked up at a convention duel)
 Thus your Stoneskinned PC's are equal to monsters that you need +5 or better
weapons to hit for the spell duration. 
Now remember that monsters with more than 14+5 HD is able to hit 
such monsters... Your Shambling Mound can easily have 50 HD...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Glen (If all this has already appeared - apologies)
From: jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jordan M. Wolbrum)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Input wanted on a combat scenario
Date: 14 Oct 92 05:14:12 GMT
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

I wouldn't want to be in either position, but my bets are on Mr. Brawny!
From: moursund@hpcvnb.CV.HP.COM (David_Moursund)
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 11:58:36 PDT
Subject: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd


I have played D&D, AD&D, AD&Dv2 etc for quite some time, and one of
the things which has always been a thorn in my paw has been healing
of wounds.

The problem stems from using hit points...  A man at arms (oooh,
not politically correct, ay? =) may have 6 hit points, while
Sir Reginald the Rude, fighting stud, may have 66 hit points.  

Both go into battle, both are moderately wounded, battered, and
beat up.  Generic MAA now has 2 hp, Reginald now has 30.  So,
they decide to rest up for a few days.  In these few days, MAA
will recover, and be in the black, tip top.  Reginald gets back
the same number of hit points, but it doesn't seem to help him as
much.  Likewise, a "cure light wounds" will probably make MAA as
good as new, but it would take many such spells to heal Reg.
(Causing the attending priest to remark "my, you must be high level..." =)
 
So, I would propose, for a simple fix, the following:

1 "day" of rest gives back 1/10 of max hitpoints, rounding all fractions
up.

1 "Cure light wounds" or "healing potion" restores 2/10.

1 "Cure serious wounds" restores 1/2 (and may also set bones, etc, if
you go into those details)

1 "Cure critical wounds" or "potion of extra healing" restores 3/4

1 "Heal" spell restores 9/10.

The converse is also applied; reversible healing spells, used to cause
damage, would cause similar loss of hitpoints.

Using this convention, all characters could be healed at roughly the
same rate; it would no longer take 3 times as long for a fighter to
heal than a mage, etc.

Suggestions?

dm
From: zweldron@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Matthew Charlap)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Any Kender Stats???
Date: 8 Oct 92 22:07:03 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

millman@indigo.bear.com (Phillip Millman) writes:
>One of the players in my new game wants to play a KENDER (out of the DRAGONLANCE
>Dragonlance Chronicles before Sunday) I'd like any information that you may
>have.
>Currently I'm thinking of a halfling Fighter with some modifiers.  Let me
>know.
Kender can be any class other than mage.
The DM keeps track of the kender's equipment list (only one list is needed
for more than one kender) The kender will unknowingly aquire items from
everyone/everything around. multiple kender will lift things from each-other 
so much your head will spin with 2 lists. remember: important items another
character has may end up in the kender's possession.
careful- kender are tricky...
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Spell Points in DND
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:02:50 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1992Oct13.145351.1946@Princeton.EDU> tao@potato.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:
>And yes, 20th level mages should be tough, but NOT INVINCIBLE, for gods
>sake! I mean, a permanently invisible flying 20th level with some sort of
>magic shield casting 400 missiles at a, say, 24th level fighter will kill
>the fighter with no real chance of counterattack.  Or put an entire army to
>sleep with 400 sleep spells.  Or clog up an entire county with web spells.
>Surely NOBODY can handle extreme amounts of magic like this? the mage would

	Well, if there was only ONE mage of any level, yep, that's a 
problem. AND if the people are stupid. AND if the fighters insist on
playing his game...

	But this is the way I run it. High level fighters generally have
gotten protection. If they're going up against a major mage, they get
MORE protection. Or their own mage. Or set up traps. Or any one of a dozen
OBVIOUS solutions. 

	And the rival mages don't just sit there either.

	All the assumptions about the superman mage rest on the single
foundation that there isn't anyone with equal power or foresight.


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: 910252m@ace.acadiau.ca (DWAYNE ALLAN MACKINNON)
Subject: Re: Lich / Holy Swords
Organization: Acadia University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 22:44:43 GMT

In article <7117@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
>Subject: Re: Lich / Holy Swords
>Date: 9 Oct 92 03:12:47 GMT
>In article <1992Oct8.202541.18016@sol.UVic.CA> caughey@engr.UVic.CA writes:
>>In article 7065@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP, seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>>>	Level is virtually irrelevant. The Paladin should get one ONLY
>>>if he's done something so staggeringly Paladinish that the Gods will
>>>notice and say, "For heroism and truth,justice,and the American Way
>>		                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>>But isn't this a contradiction?...              :-)
>>"Ten million lemmings can't be wrong"   Victoria, B.C., CANADA 
>							 ^^^^^^^
>
>	Laugh while you can, monkey boy. When we annex Canada, you'll
>change your tune. Ha! Ve haff vays of dealink mit your kind...
>
>                                 Sea Wasp
>                                   /^\
>                                   ;;;
>
>
Hey, watch it. Don't mess with Canadians. Tecnically, since we're part of 
North America, we have every much a right to refer to the American way as 
people in the states. However, I will agree that the American way usually 
refers to the way the States do things.

DMK
Acadia University, N.S., Canada.
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Kobalds in large numbers
Date: 15 Oct 92 10:09:17 GMT
Organization: Chalmers Tekniska Lekskola, G|teborg, G|taland

In article <1992Oct15.025613.3967@nctams1.uucp> n36ia@pnet16.cts.com (Et3 Francis) writes:
>In a previous message Bertil says that since the numbers are working for
>kobalds they would still win even if they had a few deaths due to buckets of
>slime killing them. Sure this might work in the numerical sense BUT, how are
>you going to convince the kobalds it would be in their best interest to be the
>slime holder for that month(or whatever).
 
  If I were the (LE) Top Kobold there, I'd just point out that if they don't
they'd get slaughtered as mice, either by the adventurers or by the royal
guard:), and in both cases their family (eggs, hatchlings and all) will get
wiped out as well.
  If they do, on the other hand, the worst thing (from their viewpoint as an
individual kobold) that can happen is that they themselves die, and this
will give rest of the clan, including their family has a greater chance of 
surviving the adventurers.

  As for why just them, let them draw straws. This means that the rest of the
warriors of the clan (those that that draw the long straws) will back the
choise:)

>                                Brian
>                        Member of KHFT(Kobalds have feelings too)

  Yup, this strategy is based on that kobolds love their children too.

>INET: n36ia@pnet16.cts.com

-bertil-
--
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
 strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
 exercise for your kill-file."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd