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


(stuff deleted)...

>Bone Picker places you in his inescapable death grip, and your character is 
>overwhelmed by the instense strength of his evil grip. Looks like you might not
>get out of this one. (A few die rolls later,) But wait! You think you see a
>way to get him off of you...You gather what's left of your quickly wanning
 strength, as dangling before your eyes, you see the largest, hairiest, 
 sweatiest pair of testicles you could ever imagine...  With a supreme
 effort, you bite them as hard as you can.  His grip relaxes suddenly as you
>experience a sensation of pain like nothing you have encountered before: 
 There is a scream in a pitch you thought was impossible to attain...
>Hey, any escape is still an escape...

 "My god, man!  I thought you were finished!  How did you ever manage to
  break Bone Picker's famous 'pretzel death grip'?"

 "Well, you'd be amazed at what strength you can find within yourself,
  the inner reserves you never knew existed, until you manage to bite
  yourself in the testicles..."

=)

dm

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: loren@leland.Stanford.EDU (Elina Aulikki Compton)
Subject: Re: Healing....
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 19:39:22 GMT


Our group in the past have all agreed that healing in the AD&D rule-system
just does not work proportionally.  We developed this system:

	Type of Healing spell 
	+ 1 HP per level of healer 
	+ 1 HP per level casted upon
-------------------------------------------
    =   Total HP received to casted upon

For example, Cure serious wounds heals 2d8+1.  To modify this, you would
just simply add in the EXP level of the caster and the receiver.  If 
Crelmor the Cleric is 9th level and he is trying to heal a 7th level 
character, this would be 9+7= 16+(2d8+1) HP's healed.  This modification
takes into account both persons and is fair depending upon the EXP level
of both.  It's very simple to figure out too.   

				Scott @ Stanford
**********************************************************************
*      Dragon, my Dragon!!  		- Dead Dragon's Society      *
**********************************************************************
From: skomedal@solan.unit.no (Knut Torstein Skomedal)
Subject: XP-calculation again
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 15:06:19 GMT

Here are some further thoughts on the subject of calculating XP-values for
spellcasters.
After some responces, I think that a system where you add a bonus per spell
per spell level for a spellcaster would be appropriate. You would also have to
take into account the number of times the spell can be cast, after all a creature
with the ability to cast Fireball once per round is more deadly than a MU 
who can cast it once per day.

Something like for instance 100 XP per spell level per spell as a bonus would
probably work. If the spell can be cast more than once, multiply this bonus
by an appropriate factor. (10? 20?)
An 18th level Lich would then( using 100XP) be worth:

7000 minus the +2 bonus for being able to cast more than 3rd level spells 

                        =5000XP
plus 

100 per 1st level spell = 500XP
200 per 2nd level spell =1000XP
300 per 3rd             =1500XP
400     4th             =2000XP
500     5th             =2500XP
600     6th             =1800XP
700     7th             =2100XP
800     8th             =1600XP
900     9th             = 900XP

total                  =18500XP

The same bonus (13500XP) for spellcasting ability would apply to an 18th level
living mage. 

If the bonus of 100 XP per spellevel is changed to 50, the XP-value of the 
Lich would be 11750XP.

Comments Anyone?

Knut Skomedal

Email address skomedal@solan.unit.no
From: Devon_Sheppard@mindlink.bc.ca (Devon Sheppard)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Kobolds (Re: Intelligent opponents)
Date: 13 Oct 92 23:18:14 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

> cs202144 writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <1992Oct13.193607.16424@umbc3.umbc.edu>
> Posted: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 19:36:0
>
> Org.  : University of Maryland, Baltimore County Campus
>
> >               I think I should warn you...Kobolds are Lawful Evil.
> >                               So are Orcs
> >                               So are Goblins...
> >
> >       Lawful Evils could come up with these kinds of plans easily!
> >
> >               Average(low) intelligence for Kobolds doesn't mean the
> > leader might not have INT 13, which would justify that kind of plan!
>
> Exactly! That Average (LOW) is only a racial average. Kobolds can have up
> to
> probably 16 int in an 18 modified roll...


And also, keep in mind that the alignment given for a monster is for the
average joe orc/goblin/ogre/whatever, or those living under the command of
the evil orc/etc warlord. Just as not all humans are good aligned, not all
monsters need to be the alignment that TSR says they are.

I sure had fun with the non-evil ogre that the party ran across in the
forest... he even tried to get the party to bring him back some wine from
town in order to provide them with some information.

  Devon

--
devon_sheppard@mindlink.bc.ca
From: jvogel@math.rutgers.edu (jeff vogel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Killing Ear Seekers with a Helm of Brilliance! HAHAHAHA!
Date: 7 Oct 92 19:39:27 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


What's all this fuss about killing a lich? Liches aren't even that hot a
monster. Now ear seekers, that's a monster!

Barbarian: OK. I swing my bastard sword at the lich. (die bounces) A hit!
GM: OK. (dice bounce) Whoops. You suddenly die, as small bugs start pouring
out your ears.
Barbarian: Oh, crud! It's those darn ear seekers again! (Dies.)
Lich: (dies laughing)

Of course, the henchman breaking the Staff of the Magi idea would work for
them too.

					- Jeff Vogel
					Rutgers math
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: The TSR Trap
Date: 12 Oct 92 16:14:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: ccsvax.1992Oct12.101436.1460
Distribution: na
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Oct11.080116.8813@leland.Stanford.EDU>, loren@leland.Stanford.EDU (Elina Aulikki Compton) writes:
> 
> How many think that TSR has gone too far with its products?

	I do.

> Do we lose creativity when we use these products?

	Not really.

> Why do they call Hobbits, Halflings?

	'Cause Tolkien's estate sued T$R.

> Why do we all flip to the Dragonmirth page at first?

	I do it because I like humor.

> Is Sage's Advice really needed?  Are the rules too Screwy?

	Inquiring munchkins want to know...

>  All this takes is your own imagination.  If you have 
> fallen into the TSR Trap and buy the products so they can do the
> thinking for you, just sit down and read Tolkien.  I'm sure many
> new plots, monsters, spell, etc. will come to mind.  

	Ahh, a Tolkien-freak. Sorry, but except for one short story of his
(the title eludes me, but its something about a farmer with a blunderbuss),
I find his work very boring and poorly done. There are *many* fantasy writers
out there who are better.

	Anyway, if you get ideas from reading Tolkein, you still aren't using
your imagination.



	If you really don't like T$R, then write them a letter telling them
why, and *stop* buying their products.

Brandon Cope
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: thedm@leland.Stanford.EDU (Marcus M. Trevino)
Subject: Re: Prismathic Sphere
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 21:54:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.032734.19909@en.ecn.purdue.edu> mage@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Mage) writes:
>In article <1992Oct8.005040.19579@leland.Stanford.EDU> thedm@leland.Stanford.EDU (Marcus M. Trevino) writes:
>>
>>In the AD&D game(1st edition I think) there is a spell named something to the
>>effect of force sphere.  It is a relatively high level spell, btwn 6th and 8th,
>>and it allows the caster to be protected from the environment around him.  The
>>inner sphere of a prismatic sphere is a take off of that spell, so I believe
>>that the caster would be impervious to the effects of his environment for the
>>duration of the spell.  Poisons, Gases, spell like effects would fail to 
>>penetrate the prismatic sphere due to its multiplictate nature of prismatic
>>barriers.  So while during the duration of the spell the inner sphere would
>>be an ideal place to stay while there is harmful and possibly deadly effects
>>within the area of the caster, prismatic sphere excluded.
>>
>>TheDM @ Stanford.edu
>>
>>Marcus Trevino
>
>Force Sphere?, Is this a take off on Wall of Force or perhaps Cube of Force,
>They each would be able to protect the user from some of the effects but not
>all, necessarily.  I'm looking through the PH and UA (both first edition) 
>and cannot find the spell you are quoting, perhaps you may be able to post 
>it to us.  I see Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, but that isn't it.
>
>hmm...
>I don't know, I probably shouldn't post this letter, but I'm hoping someone
>out there will reacte with an answer to which spell it is that your quoting.
>
>Tony aka mage
>.


Sorry about the mistake, the spell I am refering to is in the "Cyclopedia".  
My books haven't arrived from home yet, so I can't give you its exact name,
but I think it is still Force Sphere.

TheDM @ Stanford University

Marcus Trevino
From: v116r8ac@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Chris Nasipak)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Hit Points and increasing levels
Date: 9 Oct 92 18:46:00 GMT
Organization: United Nations Intelligence Taskforce
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


I have noticed that the debate continues on just what exactly hp's are.
Here's my (completely IMHO) views on the situation:

The hp's a character has at first level are the character's actual ability
to physically absorb damage.  For example, the average '0-level' human has
1-4 hp's.  Most weapons will do enough damage to kill the 'average joe' in
one (or, at most, two) attacks.  This is as it should be.

hp's go up as the character advances in levels.  This is a representation of
the character's ability to keep from taking damage - parrying, dodging, 
perhaps a small increase in physical toughness, and so forth.  This 
interpretation comes from the fact that one attack != one blow.  To quote from
the PH:

"When making an attack, a character is likely to close with his opponent, 
 circle for an opening, feint here, jab there, block a thrust, leap back, and
 perhaps finally make a telling blow."
(PH2, p. 93: What you can do in one round)

Thus, one 'attack' is actually a series of events, which may or may not end
up with a loss of hit points.  This loss could be anything - fatigue, blood
loss from a cut, a "telling blow", a number of small slashes, etc.  The hp's 
lost to the attack are not necessarily representative of actual wounds 
made by the attack.

Thus, hp's do not represent actual physical damage-absorbing capabiltiy, but
the ability to avoid getting oneself killed - which is why they rise - as that
ability should - as the character gains experience.

Any comments?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you really feel like   |         Not Croaker           |
arguing with a can of     |                               |  "Why Me?"
deoderant that registers  | v116r8ac@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu |
nine on the Richter Scale?|   nasipak@acsu.buffalo.edu    | --- Belgarath
        --- Ace           |                               |       the Sorceror
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer - If SUNY wants my opinions, they'll pay through the nose for 'em!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: dmatiske@larson.helios.nd.edu (David Matiskella)
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: University of Notre Dame
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:40:45 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.153705.21798@astroatc.uucp>, weeks@astroatc.uucp (Pat
Weeks) wrote:
> 
> In article <7114@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
> >
> >	Since the game mechanics NEVER, EVER differentiate between these
> >so-called different kinds of hit points, neither should the Healing
> >spells. They should heal wounds of proportionate severity in proportionate
> >ways.
> >
> >
> >                                 Sea Wasp
> >                                   /^\
> >                                   ;;;
> 
> 	Isn';t this once again taking from the ever so popular idea of game
> balance??  If this should all be proportional then, gee, let's make that
> goblins short sword do proportional damage to the fighter because their healers
> will do that much more healing...  Listen I'm not here to war about this, but
> some posts of this nature are trying to fix something that works, that someone 
> isn't comfortable with, but the fact of the matter is...
> 
> 1.  D&D is NOT realistic
> 2.  If you want reality do it yourself or play another game, or apply the 
> 	rules of another game to D&D.
> 3. D&D's draw and success is its simplicity, however silly...
> 4.  D&D has worked? for how many years with its current form of healing, etc...
> 	
> 
> 	Thanks for the post, I'm not saying I'm ungrateful for the added opinion
> and suggestion, I just don't agree with it( for the above reasons...)
> 
> 
> 						Have a nice day...
> 						Ghostwheel
	Well I personally think that we are reading two much into the name of the
spells which were probraly thought up in five minutes.	
	My question is since their is no way to dodge magic missiles shouldn't
thier damage be proportional to the level of the character also? AFter all
if most of those hit points a luck and divine grace they will be no help
against a magic missile. Of course this just happens to turn a mage into
the perfect killing machine at high levels and is only recommend for
munchkins.
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Killing Liches with Staves of the Magi, HA!!!
Date: 11 Oct 92 20:31:39 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <Yeq8QCq00iV3A2G=hZ@andrew.cmu.edu> jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jordan M. Wolbrum) writes:
>Does anyone know how many spells my 57427th level mage gets of each
>level.

	You have a mage so stupid he didn't become a god before this?
Since even Arduin Grimoire spells don't go beyond 20th level, he's
been wasting his time ever since he got to 40-60th level. But extending
the standard spell table should be very simple, write a program. It's 
probably something like 28,000 first level, down to about 19,000 9th level.
Of course, he has to study for almost a hundred and six years, solid with
no breaks, in order to memorize them all. If he takes lunch breaks and sleeps,
he could be finished studying in a hair over two centuries.

  He was thinking of becoming a god, but then no more advancement,
>so forget it.

	Get The Primal Order and learn how to be a real god. Lots of
advancement there. Of course, you'll be a puny scrawny milquetoast
girly-man up amoung the other, more experienced deities, but you'll
have brave new worlds to explore...

>PS:  He is able to use Thor's hammer.  He wished it.

	Without Primal in the Wish, the Hammer still laughs at you.
Thor ignores your 57,000 die fireball and crushes you like an ant.
	So sorry.

				Sea Wasp

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: skomedal@solan.unit.no (Knut Torstein Skomedal)
Subject: XP-value of psionic creature
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 15:26:33 GMT


How do you calculate the XP value of a creature with Psionic powers?

Please don't give me a +1 HD bonus. I'd like some exact and differentiated
rules for the thing, perhaps based on PSP's, Power score and # of
sciences, disciplines and all that stuff (I haven't delved deeply into the
CPH yet).

Knut Skomedal
From: raa@guild.socal.com (Guy Bartoli)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Dark Sun
Date: 15 Oct 92 22:20:22 PST
Organization: TheGuild[FTS]

Well ... the New Psi class I created ... I shall post soon ... is called the ESPer class ... and I think yeah it's munchkin ... but hey! Someone needs to teach these Sorcerer-Kings a Lesson right? Well anyway ... I like the Dark Sun feel and yeah I'll go out and get it as soon as possible ... It feeds My head and I like to experiment with the classes. I think magic needs to be spruced up anyway ... that's just an opinion. ;)

--- Via UCI v1.14 (C-Net Amiga)


     __ ___ ____________ __ __ __ __ __ __
     \//___\\__  ______//_//_//_//_//_//_/ ... UUCP: raa@guild.socal.com
 _____//__//  / / DigiT.W.I.T. Ink. UnLtd. '92!
/_________/o /_/o Pffffttt!!!...Pop!!!...Bang!!!.....Etc.!!!?
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: dclayton@bnr.ca (Don Clayton)
Subject: Re: Lich / Holy Swords
Reply-To: dclayton@bnr.ca (Don Clayton)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 14:09:23 GMT

In article <7117@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
|> 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

Don't you mean you'll change your tune when Japan calls in their loans.

Just stay on your side of the border!

Don Clayton
a.k.a. Rear-Adm. Maverick, DM of the Drow
My brain, my thoughts, my words.
If I had a million dollars, I'd buy you a K-car (a nice reliant automobile),
From: cptully@med.unc.edu (Christopher P. Tully,Pathology,62699)
Subject: Re: Enchanted weapons to hit...
Reply-To: cptully@med.unc.edu
Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 16:45:27 GMT

In article 92Oct6150352@despair.cs.uchicago.edu, covin@tartarus.uchicago.edu (David Covin) writes:
{stuff about magig vs non-magic weapons damaging certain creatures}

>
>The most difficult part to rationalize, actually, is the bit about
>tough monsters being able to damage hit-only-by-magic creatures even
>though they had no magic themselves.  The closest I could come to
>rationalizing this is to take the approach I've been whining about
>with fighting gods: these are "creatures of legend," and their status
>as mystical beings puts them above being damaged by ordinary weapons.
>Their life forces are not dependent on their physical bodies, but
>rather the life force maintains the body; ordinary weapons just can't
>harm that life force, and so the body quickly recovers from the 
>superficial damage done to it.  On the other hand, very tough (high
>hit dice) monsters become "creatures of legend" themselves, and so
>can damage the life force of other such creatures with their attacks.
>
>I'm not sure whether I like this rationale or not; I've toyed with
>the idea of just making "immunity to normal weapons" an absolute
>thing, regardless of how many hit dice your opponent has.
>
>--
>David Covin                           covin@despair.uchicago.edu

You forgot one minor problem in that discussion: Barbarians

According to _Unearthed Arcana_ higher level (>4) barbarians can hit
creatures with normal weapons that others can only hit with a +1 and
etc as levels go up.  Does this fit into the creatures of legend
catagory?


---
*********************************************************************
Chris(topher) P. Tully				<cptully@med.unc.edu>
Univ. of North Carolina - Chapel Hill		1122 Vic Charles Dr.
Department of Pathology				Raleigh, NC 27606
CB# 7525			work: (919) 966-2699
Chapel Hill, NC 27599		hone: (919) 851-8816
*********************************************************************
I get paid for my opinions, but that doesn't mean that UNC or anybody
                     else agrees with them.
From: v073pzuy@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Face In The Sky)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A modest proposal concerning HEALING
Date: 15 Oct 92 19:17:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Oct15.165227.20434@samba.oit.unc.edu>, moore@gibbs.oit.unc.edu 
	(Hall Moore) writes...
>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, 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
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: thealien@unlv.edu (Sean McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Kobolds (Re: Intelligent opponents)
Organization: UNLV
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 13:49:39 GMT

		I think I should warn you...Kobolds are Lawful Evil.
				So are Orcs
				So are Goblins...

	Lawful Evils could come up with these kinds of plans easily!

		Average(low) intelligence for Kobolds doesn't mean the
leader might not have INT 13, which would justify that kind of plan!

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: loren@leland.Stanford.EDU (Elina Aulikki Compton)
Subject: RE: The TSR Trap
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 21:07:19 GMT


Okay, now I feel that everyone is right on this subject.  There is no
reason to altercate about the grey areas.  It all boils down to this:
Your personal EXP level.  If you are experience, you already have a
good fantasy-foundation from books, other RPG's, fiction, etc (such
as Tolkien, Lewis, Myths, Old English legends, or even modern day
Authors like Wies&Hickman, Eddings, Peirs Anthony, McCaffery, Terry
Brooks, or what have you.  Also, this base will obviously stem from
TSR.  TSR has produced wonderful products, ideas, and RPG's.  For
the NEW RPGer or gamer, use anything to learn about fantasy.  My
recommendation is Tolkien: You have Dwarves, Elves, Gandalf (he 
speaks for himself), Hobbits (Halflings), Mithril Armor, Dragons,
Magic Swords (Glamdring & Sting for example), evil dudes (The
Nazgul, etc.), and the list goes on and on just like the Duracel
Bunny.  I'm not trying to convert you: It is my recommendation!

And TSR has done a great job of giving us a system that role-plays
on our hobbies, likes, etc.  But don't get caught up in rely upon 
or depending upon TSR all of the time.  Trust you own creativity
and imagination from time to time; this is what experience is all
about.  Everyone (including TSR) has potential.  So, use yours if
you think that you might have fallen into the TSR Trap.
                                                         
					Sincerely,

					Scott@Stanford