HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jordan M. Wolbrum)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Psionicists and non-psi.
Date: 16 Oct 92 20:43:03 GMT
Distribution: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

You really haven't given the psionicist a chance.  First, you can
contact any creature without one of the five psychic defenses with
little difficulty.  Wis or less on a d20, -2 if the victim
resists(Contact-telepathic devotion).
Once you're in his mind, you own him.  Many telepathic devotions get no save.
You can make a fighter's sword repugnant to him, you can awe him, or you
can make him think his foes are invincible.  These are just a few that
have no save.  If you're not a telepath, then your powers are much more
widely used.  No one can ignore your project force- whether psionically
active or not.  No one stops you from using your animal affinity.  No
living creature can resist your life drain!  Psionicists also have a
huge benefit that you are discounting.  A victim with an open mind- no
psychic defenses, can be manipulated without even knowing it.  You just
have to see your victim, no hand waving, or speech, or material
component is necessary.  As a psionicist, your mind is closed.  No one
gets in unless you let them in, or they fight their way in.  And the
defender usually has the advantage in a psychic duel.
Basically, at low levels, a psionicist is weak, like a mage.  But, his
weapon/armor choice is much better, which gives him stuff to do when
he's out of PSPs.  At high levels, forget it.  The psionicist is almost
on par with a mage.  In the Dark Sun supplement Dragon Kings, the
psionicist is on par.
Don't sell a psionicist short.  Just always keep thinking ahead to the
day you can get disintegrate, or dominate, or psychic surgery.
From: zweldron@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Matthew Charlap)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: DARK SUN: half-giant problem
Keywords: dark sun
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:58:38 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

tsmuelle@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Thomas Mueller) writes:
>Now I am searching for a good rule for using standard weaponry as a
>half-giant because it does not seem right that he his forbidden to use
>them.I thought about limiting the strenght bonus or to raise the 

The problem is that a Half-Giant's hands are too big to hold onto a human-
sized weapon. It's not that a half-giant is not allowed to you 'smaller' 
weapons- it's the fact that a half-giant CAN'T. personally, when playing
a hlaf-giant, I fight bare-handed.
From: jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jordan M. Wolbrum)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: house-rules
Date: 12 Oct 92 02:22:18 GMT
	<BvvCqx.BJz@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
	<QeqB2ey00VoxQ2qapq@andrew.cmu.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Just a note about thieves:

If you use those thief abilities that you can always use, you should be
gaining levels much, much faster than the rest of the party.  Each
successful use of a thieving ability gives 250 xp + xp for money(pick
pockets).  If a thief is used in a thiefly manner, he should have twice
to three times the xp of the other party members.  Combine this with the
best advancement table in the books, and the thief should be high enough
level to hold his own.  Also, thieves are likely to have the most
contacts in a city through guilds and other parts of the "underground
community."

One problem:  Shouldn't the bard need more xp than the thief?  The bard
is truly mondo in 2nd edition, casts spells as a mu of his level(ie 3 or
4 levels higher than the party's mage, who has less opportunity for
class related xp), and ID's magic items(Oh, this sword is cursed, it can
only be safely used by bards!)


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From: scythe@byron.u.washington.edu (The Grim Reaper)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Missed Move Silently Results
Date: 9 Oct 92 15:16:30 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct9.151630.1800
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <8epCLa600Vp8E6BNVs@andrew.cmu.edu> "Joseph E. Beck" <jb8n+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>
>>A thief is the best individual class available.  Play them like a
>>survivor NOT like the party's cannon fodder.
>
>I have to disagree strongly with this.  I like thieves, but if I want
>to play someone powerful I'd take priests or mages.  We were
>discussing who was a party's best fighter at 12th level (or any level past
>7th). The argument centered around whether priests or mages were
>better (fighters and thieves were ignored).  But wait a
>minutes...mages and priests have spells that are very useful *outside*
>of combat too, making them the most useful people out of combat.  
>
>With a thief, you're the 2nd worst in hand to hand, have the worst
>saving throw table, have the 2nd worst  HP die, don't have spell use,
>and have abilities that are countered/duplicated by magic of 1st/2nd
>level.  Doesn't sound very powerful to me.  
>
>We're running a slightly different d&d campaign.  Thieves get d8's for
>HP and use the cleric attack table, clerics get d6's for HP and use
>the thief attack table.  In addition thief abilities start at higher
>percentages.  Having thieves that actually fight and with abilities that
>actually work at low levels balances them somewhat better with mages
>and priests. 
>
>	joe

Yes! I agree! Now if only I could get my DM to give my thieves d8 HP and
cleric attacks... :(
From: c188-cr@po.berkeley.edu (Chua Hak Lien)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Priests & Thieves (was Re: house-rules)
Date: 11 Oct 92 02:41:41 GMT
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley

In article <1992Oct11.002945.29489@Princeton.EDU> tao@fine.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:
[ Stuff about non-violent priests.. ]
>
>Terry
>
Well, there is the Cloistered Cleric class in the Best Of Dragon IV,
which more or less conforms to what you've just pointed out. Worth
digging out....

Chua
+==+
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: brunborg@solan.unit.no (]dne Brunborg)
Subject: Re: Intelligent opponents (was Re: Lich & Demi-Lich...)
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 08:02:50 GMT

In article <BvqE10.K0@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, slip@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Doolie) writes:
 > >In article <1992Oct5.120254.13349@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> gajensen@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu writes:
 > >>The commotion about a lich is the fact that not only is it an undead monster,
 > >>(and yes, it is the single most powerful undead), it used to be at least an
 > >>arch-mage. To top it off, it still has _all_ of the powers it possessed as an
 > >>arch-mage, plus a few bonuses. Not losing con points for casting permanency and
 > >>not having to worry about aging for the casting of wish are the two that come
 > >>to mind most easily. If you also consider that the lich has had _lots_ of time
 > >>to prepare his defenses, they are untouchable.
 > >>
 > >>Greg Jensen
 > 
 > All this talk about liches started me wondering. Does a Lich have to LOOK
 > like a lich?  I mean, couldnt they simply put a permanent change self on
 > themselves to look alive?.  This way, they could look like a livng human,
 > smell like a human, feel like a human, but still be a lich.
 > 
 > WHoops.. I mean ALTER self- the 2nd level alteration spell.
 > 
 > 
 > -- 
 > * Gordon Emore	          *   <Place nifty quote here>      *
 > * slip@sage.cc.purdue.edu *   < Or maybe not >              *

Now THAT'S what I call a good idea... the helpful(?) NPC guiding the party to a
dungeon, lock them up and teleport out. The PC's are now in deep shit... 
Thanks for the idea!!!

So long!

		Aadne Brunborg
		Norwegian Institute of Thechnology
		University of Trondheim
		NORWAY

	"If ye can't see it, it's right behind ye..."
From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Date: 16 Oct 92 15:52:44 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle


In <1992Oct15.201051.15569@ugle.unit.no> Knut Torstein Skomedal writes:
 > I've got the various priest spells from the FTP-sites at Caltech and
 > greyhawk. Among those spells you find:

 > cure minor 2d8+1 (2nd level)
 > cure moderate 3d8+3 (3rd level)
 > cure serious 4d8+5 (4th level)
 > cure critical 5d8+8 (5th level)
 ...

Another type of spell I've considered, but never tried, is a low level healing
spell that relies on the characters resting. The spells cure some base amount,
plus X hit points per hour of sleep. The total hours will be limited by the
level of the Cleric. Here's an example:

  heal light wounds (2nd level) - cures 1d4hp, plus 1hp per hour of sleep (up
  to a number of hours equal to the level of the cleric.)

There would be heal spells that correspond to Cure Serious (2d4+2/hour) and
Cure Critical (3d4+3/hour).

The problem I have with the proliferation of Clerical Heal spells is that the
players become dependent on the Clerics as just a source of healing. Their
other skills and spells become secondary, and the Cleric character is unable
to employ non-healing spells because they use all their spell slots for cures.
Better to have a few healing spells that do their job well regardless of the
level.

Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 14:08:01 -0400 
From: "Jordan M. Wolbrum" <jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: house-rules
	<1992Oct14.012223.7594@u.washington.edu>

>Just as a side note, I noticed that mid-level mages actualy require
>less exps than fighters to level (2nd ed, at least).  Isn't this kind of 
>unfair?
Not really.  The exp difference is a result of relative power change. 
It is much more significant to the fighter to gain 7th level than the
mage.  The mage gets 1 fourth level spell and one THACO point.  The
fighter gets extra attacks, better saving throws, and one THACO point. 
Also, look at the fourth level spells, most of them aren't even as good
as third level spells, and most of the exceptions have lousy casting
times: Evard's Black Tentacles(1 full round to cast!)
The only really, really great one is stoneskin.
On the other hand, a specialized fighter now can throw 5 darts or four
daggers, or attack 2x/round with his melee weapon.  I still thing the
mage is more powerful, but his relative power increases less than the
fighter upon gaining 7th level.

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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Deus Imperator)
Subject: Re: The TSR Trap
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 18:52:28 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.041905.18923@wheaton.wheaton.edu> kroth@david.wheaton.edu (Ken Roth) writes:
>
>OK, I have to respond (in a bit of anger) to this completely ignorant
>statement.  what can you POSSIBLY mean Tolkien didn't say so???  Just because
>YOU haven't read a lot of Tolkien's other books, don't drag your ignorance
>before us.  Tolkien wrote SEVERAL books where he discusses the derivation of
>everything he used, from the idea of elves and orcs to the languages he
>'created'.  But, you see, these are more scholarly books, even harder to read
>than his fiction.  One book is 'The Monsters and Their Critics and other
>Essays'.  This is a collection of essays about many things, including the use
>of fantasy.  It is HARD to find (Out of print...).  Anyway, think before you
>post.
>
Actually, what he meant was that Tolkien didn't preface every one of his works
with a disclaimer saying "Hey, I'm an unoriginal doofus, who couldn't imagine 
my way out of a paper bag, and I'm stealing ideas from people who did it
better, and in less words."  Or something like that. 8^p

In all truth, Tolkien was a God, and much of that came from the incredible 
group he found himself with (CS Lewis, et al.)  In an essay, I likened this to
the gestalt of minds that pushed the Renaissance to glory (Shelley, Byron,
et al).  Tolkien may have gotten many of his ideas from these sources, but
that doesn't mean he has to credit anyone in particular.  Who's to say where 
an idea "orginally" came from (well, lawyers and English majors give it a 
go...)?  TSR doesn't have to, because most of it is readily apparent with 
but a read.  If you want to find the sources of inspiration, look at the 
Suggested reading Column in the back of AD&D v.1, where they TELL you what
they read to make the game what it is today.  

-- 
I don't mind being the smartest	    / Thanatos, DeathUrge, Master of Unknown
man in the world...I just wish it   \ Time and Space tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
wasn't this one...	       	    / "No, I don't know how much unknown is... 
	-Ozymandias 		    \	...THAT'S THE POINT!"
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Lich / Holy Swords
Date: 9 Oct 92 03:12:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: blue.7117
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

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
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Lich / Holy Swords
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:50:02 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...

abistak@nyx.cs.du.edu (Andrew Bistak) writes:

> Heres another question though : When (What level) or should a Paladin get
> a Holy Sword?

     Well, as a long-time player of Paladins, I think it depends on the
Paladin. If the character has been EXEMPLORY in his devotion, and has been
the embodiment of his diety's cause, it should be at a lower level than
the paladin who hasn't been so zealous, but has well-earned his newest
toy. There is no level, per se, that is right or wrong. Holy Swords should
be rare as can be, but should DEFINATELY be merit-based. After all, you
don't need to be 59 to become a General in the army-- You just need to
have earned the rank. (Hey, I've never been in the military, so if I'm
wrong, don't flame me.... Us civies don't know everything /w/).

                                             Jeff

...From a tiny little node called Eternal!
--
    /|Email  to:   jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us, offline@infopls.chi.il.us
   / |Smail  to:   Jeff Gostin, 917 High Ridge Pass, Carol Stream IL 60188
   \ |Vmail  to:   708-293-5526
    \|Flames to:   trashcan@eternal.chi.il.us
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 17:15:42 -0400 
From: "Jordan M. Wolbrum" <jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: house-rules
	<Bw4w39.3BH@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
	<0erDIry00UhW88Ghto@andrew.cmu.edu>
	<oerKX1u00VoxQWJWJx@andrew.cmu.edu>
Distribution: usa

> 
>>>Darts anyone? I like 'em better because they have a real short spd factor
>>>and I can fire a multiple spread. No, we DON'T allow strength bonuses
>>>to darts.
>>
>>Why not?  Don't you think stronger people can throw darts harder?  Also,
>>these darts are WAR darts, they weigh half a pound each!  
>The problem with darts is that you get 4 attacks per round (if
>specialized).  Now say you're a strong fighter (+4 damage), you get 4
>attacks doing d3+4.  A lot of people feel something is wrong when the
>strength bonus is more than the maximum damage possible from the weapon.
> 
>The dart thrower is still in a lot of trouble against the mage; it's
>unlikely he'll beat the sleep spell and actually get to shoot.

On the first hand, few argue against a girdle of storm giant strength
adding the full bonus to a WARHAMMER(1d4+1damage+12)!  Bear in mind the
rules state that both a girdle and gauntlets of ogre power combine
bonuses with warhammer!  The cleric throws his war hammer at the
fighter, who laughs, it's just a wimpy cleric throwing a hammer at me. 
FLW, bang, as he takes 19-23 points of damage.  This is really nasty!
For the second point, darts have a 2 speed factor and sleep has a
casting time of 1.  Also, a spellcasting mage cannot use dex to lower
initiative, while a fighter throwing darts can.  Looks like it will come
down to the roll on the 10-die.  Also, the spell casting mage must
"stand completely still while casting" which means no AC bonus!  If the
mage gets initiative, the fighter's toast- but if the fighter gets it,
the mage is probably toast(add str and dex bonuses to hit to thrown
weapons).Worst case scenario is that fighter needs a 10 to hit.  Did I
leave out anything?

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From: jim@baldrick.cs.flinders.edu.au (Jim Entwisle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: more XP-calculation
Keywords: XP
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:18:43 GMT
Organization: Flinders University

>Have anybody found any good rules for calculating XP-values of
>creatures with magical abilities? As I mentioned in my previous post
>there should be an XP-difference between an 18th level mage turned
>Lich and a 30th level one.  If we DM's of the net could work out a set
>of such rules, we would all benefit.

Would something related to the number of EXP that the caster would
have to have be usable? Say, 1/10th of the EXP of an equivalent mage?
(killing 10 casters of equivalent strength to oneself would then raise
one a level. Is that about right? Perhaps 1/20th?) One could add this
as bonus over and above the EXP that one had calculated for the
monster when looking at it without its spell abilities.

Or see the monster as a collection of magical items and add up the EXP
of some items that relate most closely? (Probably just look at the few
most powerful spells here, let's not get too carried away) In a sense
it is as though the players were being attacked by such a group of
items. (I don't give EXP for treasure so I never use this number these
days). These would certainly make a good guide.

If a high-level-spell casting monster is included in a scenario then
it would probably be a special monster and central to the scenario.
Like any such powerful-central-rare monster in any scenario I feel
that the EXP should be individually worked out beforehand as part of
the scenario description (as in "The Tomb Of Horrors", for example).

Also, I give full EXP for the correct HANDLING of a monster (not
necessarily it's demise) is that a common practise?

Here is another EXP problem:

8 monsters together in one group is far more dangerous than the same 8
monsters faced one after another. Equivalently: a fighter and a mage
together are more dangerous than one fighter-mage of the same levels
(twice the number of attacks, for a start...)

Should bonuses be given for facing a GROUP? 

Jim Entwisle


-- 
Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A Viable spell point system.
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:35:22 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

In article <keqocgS00iUxI5h1FN@andrew.cmu.edu> jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jordan M. Wolbrum) writes:
>This spell point system is very destructive to the high level mage, or
>very advantageous, depending on the adventure.  Assume a 20th level mage
>with an 18 INT who rolls an average of 8 on the 10-die.  He has 52 spell
>points, which will allow him to cast seventeen twenty-die fireballs,
>plus a magic missile spell.  Or, he can cast a total of 1040 magic
>missiles.  As an attack force, this mage rarely needs to cast his high
>level spells.  Why cast power word kill, when you can cast 70 magic
>missiles(minimum damage of 140 hp!)?  I apologize if I have

	Simple:

	PWK takes one round to cast.
	EACH MM spell takes 1 round. 
	If your mage is in a strongly defended bunker, okay, cool, MM away.

	However, in the usual melee situation, the character is NOT going
to be afforded tons and tons of rounds.

	Having played in lots of spellpoint games over the years, I've
learned that:

	MM is great for eliminating non-flying large attackers, IF you can
get to a safe vantage point. Otherwise, at moderate levels it's great for
lower-level attackers or ones with marvelous saves.

	FIREBALL is great on large numbers of lower-HD creatures. Overall
it's not much better than MM on large single enemies.

	Color Spray is a nice overall surprise weapon. But don't depend on
it too often., especially at high level.

	And finally, a powerful fighter or monster with a determined 
attitude is usually enough to get you to run.


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: stats for Aliens
Date: 12 Oct 92 16:19:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: ccsvax.1992Oct12.101912.1461
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <14941@chalmers.se>, d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell) writes:
> In article <70690@hydra.gatech.EDU> ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct9.184204.11389@ugle.unit.no*> skomedal@solan.unit.no (Knut Torstein Skomedal) writes:
>>
>>Well, you're certainly entitled to run your Aliens your way.  However,
>>if you are going to try and keep this similar to what we saw in
>>the movies, you need to re-do a LOT of this stuff.
> 
>   I think he used the Aliens as described in 'Aliens the RPG' by Leading Edge.
> 

	Also, the novel _Aliens_ goes into more detail than the movie (Bishop
theorizes on the alien culture, the LT. gets stung by a tail stinger [NOT hit
over the head with a box] that kocks him out, etc.].

Brandon Cope