HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bert@medley.ssdl.com (Bert Medley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 06:31:07 CST
Reply-To: bert@medley.ssdl.com
Organization: Medley's Homestyle Waffle

sinari@snakemail.hut.fi (Jukka Sinisalo) writes:

> 	One thing you might also consider is the use of NPCs.  The party
> could hire or otherwise convince a low-level cleric of a suitable faith
> to help them.  Just for healing, nothing else.  He'd not be expected to
> fight or anything.  In some cases it might take some convincing, but
> it should work.  Naturally he should receive a fair share of the profits...
> 
> 	This solution obviously doesn't the problem of "cleric as walking 
> bandages", but if it's a NPC, I don't think the players mind? :-)
> 
> 	"Most holy sir, would you kindly consider helping us on our mission
> to save the poor village of XXXX?  We've been offered a big reward and
> it seems your church could use new benches.  Maybe one of your clerics
> could join us for a while".
> 
> 							Sinari

But then you will have to *protect* that cleric.  "Yes, o great ones, Brother
Thomas may go with you.  I do charge you to return him safely to his brethren.
Do you agree to this?"  Can you say Geas from the hidden spellcaster?  Are
there any Lawful characters in the party?  

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: bane@spock.uucp (Cameron Huang)
Subject: DND: Satanism
Organization: Acheron Technical Institute 
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 22:50:33 GMT

OK. I'm tired of all this crap about DND being Satanic. I haven't been born
again, Hell, I haven't died yet. I am an avid player of DND. And, guess what?
This flame war shouldn't be happening. I mean, if DND players get so offended
at these zealots crap, then there must be a ring of truth to the accusations.
If DND players know that it's BS, then they wouldn't NEED to flame. Who cares!?
That's what the dorks want! They want everyone to blow their tops so they can
claim "DND caused their aggressiveness"

Besides, DND is far from being banned, illegalized, or censored, so it's a 
moot point anyway.

And to all those zealots who might not have gotten the point: I'm not on your
side. DND is NOT Satanic. If it was, no one would bother flaming you, they would
probably just sacrifice you.

Bane (yes, a demon, false god, and all that) 

-- 
+-----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|Type F for Flame!      |                       I see the faith in your eyes |
+-----------------------+               Never you hear the discouraging lies |
|If love is blind, I    |                     I hear the faith in your cries |
|guess I'll buy myself  |                   Broken is the promise-- betrayal |
|a cane.                |    The healing hand held back by the deepened nail |
|                       |                         Follow the God that failed |
bane@choate.edu---------+--------------------------------------Metallica-----+
From: ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Battleragers?
Date: 8 Jan 93 01:12:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1993Jan8.011242.9880
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR


	I just read R.A. Salvatore's book "The Legacy" which is set
in the Forgotten Realms. In the book, one of the characters is something
called a "battlerager." He was a sort of beserker/street fighter/dwarf, 
basically he wore jagged/sharp armour with lots of spikes, and he'd just
try to tackle his opponents and thrash about ontop of them till they
were all cut up and dead. Does such a kit/class exist somewhere in the 
Forgotten Realms material? It's seems like a good way to bring some
humor and gore into a setting. Mail me or post if you know more...
Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
From: phatch@solstice.slc.mentorg.com (Phill Hatch (CONTRACTOR Documentation))
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corp.,  Murray, Utah
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 00:05:27 GMT

I remember the walking bandages syndrome.  Because of that and
some image problems, PC paladins and priests were rare to nonexistent
in our campaigns.  Thankfully, we grew out of it to some degree.

Now, the problem is creating, DMing and Playing, a complete belief 
system. We seem to have drifted to the other extreme where religion 
became a key aspect of the campaign with too much detail and 
influence. It's been an interesting change, and we are already 
swinging back to a more moderate clericdom.

Another possible patch for priests from an organized hierarchy
would be a moderated supply of curing scrolls supplied by the
higher members of the priesthood.  Since clerics are so often
healing batteries, use this mechanic to reinforce the presence
and power of priests in the system.  The DM can further limit
the effect of these scrolls to believers or people acting in 
support of that deity's goals.

In our campaigns, it occasionally happens that certain N/PCs
are denied healing benefits by the deities.  I had a thief who
detested interfering (all deities in this campaign)religions, 
who NEVER received a beneficial clerical act even though he 
often aided good causes and a cure would have been very helpful.  
As a DM, I used the rejection of healing for an NPC to indicate 
to the party the NPC was out of favor with the deity.

And I currently have a player running a shamanistic priest who
actually likes being a healing battery.  It didn't start out that
way, but he has enjoyed the power and prestige he has been able
to assume in the party because of it.

Lastly, the Tome of Magic really spiced up the power of priests.
While I haven't heard much on the Net about this volume, what
it gave to priests really pumped up the character class (IMHO)
and I recommend it to any who haven't bought it.

Phil
From: camelsho@magna.ksu.ksu.edu (   James A Seymour)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Date: 8 Jan 1993 03:56:07 -0600
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: magna.ksu.ksu.edu

In article <1993Jan7.130416.10009@camaro.uucp> tfoley@camaro.uucp (Tim Foley) writes:
>
>Hey, this guy, David Fisher gave his net address at the end of this faq, 
>therefore, in good (yeah right), usenet tradition, we should carry this 
>flame war over to email....to his mailbox.
> 
>  He posted a FAQ on usenet, so his in INVITING QUESTIONS, and comments are 
>intended to be forwarded to him, therefore, lets email this guy and then we 
>can tone down this newsgroup.
> 
>  
> (Gee, anyone goy one of those 50 meg files they could ftpmail or fileattach 
>to this sucker???)
> 
Gee, Tim, do you really mean this?  Do you really want to compound
the problem? (xD&D People flooded my mailbox with nasty replies.)

Get a clue, kiddo.  The only way to make someone really listen
your your viewpoints in a case like this is to act in a civilized
manner.  To do otherwise is just inviting the same status quo
that you are against.

Give them a reason to hate roleplayers even more, and they will
take it.

Also, I dont know wether you have seen the post or not, but
the moderator of the Christian group posted here.   Guess WHAT?
He plays D&D....even introduced it into the church.

You sure you want to piss thaty guy off?  He's one of us.

Now, go crawl back into your unelightened cave and leave 
humanity alone.  Nah, better stay out here...no telling
what will cross through you mind if left with no normal
stimulus.

camel

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: bane@spock.uucp (Cameron Huang)
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 18:20:55 GMT

In article <1ib3lbINNba9@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu>, pkralik@ecst.csuchico.edu (Wintermute) writes...
>I often play Clerics, and it seems that every time I do, I wind up in the 
>position of being viewed as the party's walking first aid kit.  I find that
>I am unable to be very creative with my PC's spell selection.  Anytime I take
>a non-healing spell, i.e. one i would like to experiment with, and we come 
>across a combat situation, I feel a little guilty about not having that extra
>CLW for the front line fighters, etc.  I was wondering how, as a dm, I could
>help to prevent this from happening to PC Clerics.  I really hate to limit

Well, in order to prevent other PC's from taking sdavantage of a cleric, you
must have the cleric state his terms clearly, concisely, and to the point. For
instance:

Ranger Bob just got badly hurt by a huge man-eating kobold. He runs over to 
father O'Malley, begging for a heal spell. Father O'Malley, seeing Bob's 
torment, calls to mind a "Quest" spell. "Find me a goddamned Mace of Disruption,
Plebe!! Then you'll get your heal spell!"

or:

Raag the Destroyer just got scorched by a huge red dragon. He screams for help
from Father O'Malley. Father O'Malley, having just used his last "Cure Critical
Wounds" on himself, unfortunately only heard the "...Critical wounds" part of
Raag's cry for help. Thinking that Raag meant *CAUSE* critical wounds, he pre-
pares his spell. 

I hope these suggestions helped!

Bane
-- 
+-----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
|Type F for Flame!      |                       I see the faith in your eyes |
+-----------------------+               Never you hear the discouraging lies |
|If love is blind, I    |                     I hear the faith in your cries |
|guess I'll buy myself  |                   Broken is the promise-- betrayal |
|a cane.                |    The healing hand held back by the deepened nail |
|                       |                         Follow the God that failed |
bane@choate.edu---------+--------------------------------------Metallica-----+
From: kinsler@newton.physics.uq.oz.au (Paul Kinsler)
Subject: Re: Cursed Items - Why?
Keywords: magic items, cursed items, wizards
Organization: Physics Dept. The University of Queensland
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 03:35:48 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.005616.9419@lclark.edu>, ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross) writes:
>>    
>>    	Here's my question, and I'm pretty damn sure the FAQ doesn't
>>    answer it:
>>    	OK, given the amount of time, effort, money, etc... needed
>>    to contruct a magical item, why would a mage be making a cursed one?
>>    I can see a few very special instances where it makes sense to put
>>    forth the effort, such as: [...]
>>    or whatever.  What sort of mega-wizard would sit aruond for weeks
>>    wasting time and resources constructing items he can chuck in his 
>>    vault on the off-chance that some persky PCs are going to kill him
>>    and access his vault? The wizard would have to be rather unstable for
>>    him/her to do so. I don't see how any dying wizard would gain satisfaction
>>    from this arrangement.
Perhap they are failed magic items - eg. Nafanger the Wizard tries to
make a +2 sword, fails, and is left with a -2 sword.
-- 
+soluble fish+
"You people, you do not see the grandeur in the wind and stone and stars,
 in the blood and fire and iron - but paint only the flowers."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: mittman1@athena.mit.edu (Christopher T Chiu)
Subject: notes on the Legacy (Was Re: Night masks)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 18:11:47 GMT

Neela Jacques writes:
>Has anyone read The Legacy? I can't decide wether or not to pay $22 to get it.
>Comments appreciated.

I haven't read it myself, but my brother has, and he says it's terrific.
If you can wait a while though, The Legacy will be coming out soon in paperback
for about five dollars, so you can save a lot of money.

By the way, the sequel to the The Legacy will also be coming out in a few
months...though it will be in hardback, in this case.

From a curious adventurer,
Genghis
mittman1@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters)
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 21:01:00 GMT

In article <C0Gv5L.5zq@sdf.lonestar.org> davebeck@sdf.lonestar.org (Dave Beck) writes:
>One other thing you might try is increasing the curative powers like this:
>   The minimum curing a cleric does is his level, ie a 2nd level cleric
>casting a Cure Light Wounds rolls d8 and counts a 1 as a 2, etc.  An 8th
>or higher level cleric would always cure 8 points.

How about this:

CLW is always fully effective (i.e. 8 points), but it costs in spell "slots"
depending on the target:

Worships same diety 			= 1 slot	(as default)
Woships different   			= 2 slots
Each step of alignment difference	= 1/step
(lawful <-> chaotic 2 steps,
 good <-> evil 2 steps)

Total the "slots" used to determine if the caster can even attempt to 
CLW.

For example, a level 1 CG cleric of Tymora with a WIS of 14 gets
3 first level slots.  For argument, he takes CLW, LIGHT and BLESS.

This cleric could cast 3 fully effective CLW on another follower of 
Tymora of the same alignment.  The CLW is gone for the day.

CLW on a NG follower of Tymora would cost 2 slots, giving the character 1 spell
left.  The cleric would have to determine which of the other two spells to 
give up to do this.  Both the CLW and the sacrificed spell are gone.

CLW on a CG follower of Silvanus would cost 3 slots, exhausting the spell 
ability of the cleric.

CLW on a LG follower of Tempus would be completely beyond his abilities.  The
cleric would need another level, and then would burn 4 slots.

The cleric does not know with any certainty how much "power" a CLW will require
unless he is able to determine the exact alignment and diety of the target.  If
the cleric tries to heal one beyond his abilities, the "slots" are burned
anyhow.

The "power" can always step in to modify this, increasing the needed slots if
the target worships a power hostile to the casters, or reducing it if the 
situation warrants.  I'd calc the cost, let the caster attempt, then tell them
how many slots are gone.

Of course, this smacks of spellpoints.


-Coyt

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: vernard@cc.gatech.edu (Vernard C. Martin)
Subject: Re: TeX and PS...
Reply-To: vernard@cc.gatech.edu (Vernard C. Martin)
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 15:58:28 GMT

>Because so many of the things posted to FTP sites are done in PS and TeX 
>formats, would anyone who knows please point me in the direction of one of
>the following:
> 1) PS or TeX editor/printer for MS-DOS machines.
> 2) PS or TeX converter to straight ASCII or some word-processor used on MS-DOS

There is no TeX editor for MS-DOS machines. Or any other machines for that
matter. TeX and LaTeX is a text formatting language. Basically you take an
ascii file and insert these text formatting commands in them. You then use a
compiler/converter to translate the file into a .dvi file which is a device
independet psuedo-graphics format. You then either use some sort of utility
that converts the .dvi files into either postscript or some other printer
language. 

If you are interested in getting a LaTeX package for the PC then ftp to
eedsp.gatech.edu and look in /pub/TeX. There is a readme.tex file that
explains how to ftp the files necessary to get it setup. The program that is
used to convert DVI files to postscript is called dvips or dvi2ps and may not
have a DOS port. In any event the pacakge on eedsp.gatech.edu has some sort
of converted so that files can be printed out.

I have discovered that it is not worth the effort to put TeX on a PC. Takes
too much disk space to get a systme that can compile and print/display the
.tex files.

I worked extensively with LaTeX creating AD&D v1 character sheets. 

Vernard Martin
Vernard Martin (vernard@cc.gatech.edu) Georgia Tech College of Computing 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: goldman@orac.cray.com (Goldman of Chaos)
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 5 Jan 93 11:26:57 CST

In article <1993Jan5.114019.3252@syma.sussex.ac.uk> jasonr@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Jason F Ralph) writes:
>Tim Klein (timk@meaddata.com) wrote:
>Are you saying that demons DON'T exist? You'll be saying that the tooth
>fairy doesn't exist next... Just as well me and Santa Claus know what is
>really going on!

That's Satan Claws to you Bucko!

-- 
Matthew Goldman              E-mail: goldman@orac.cray.com
Fax: (612) 683-3099                   Work: (612) 683-3061
      "Say George, I don't mean to interrupt, but 
       there's a glowing red dot on your forehead."
From: smann@smashland.nelsonville.oh.us (Stephen Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Date: 6 Jan 93 00:27:59 GMT
Organization: Smasher Land BBS

If you don't want your clerics to be walking first aid kits, change the 
cleric class. Make their healing magics less effective. Create an NPC/PC 
class of healers (magical and non-magical medicine). Allow healing magic to 
to be learned by the mages. Make non-cleric healing magic cheaper by 
mass-production (the Temple of Whosis makes Healing Potions Lite by the vat, 
and makes a ton of money from adventurers/soldiers/etc).
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: kurgan@spock.uucp (Andrew Twyman)
Subject: Re: Cursed Items - Why?
Keywords: magic items, cursed items, wizards
Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 17:52:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.005616.9419@lclark.edu> ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross) writes:
>
>	Here's my question, and I'm pretty damn sure the FAQ doesn't
>answer it:
>
>	OK, given the amount of time, effort, money, etc... needed
>to contruct a magical item, why would a mage be making a cursed one?
>I can see a few very special instances where it makes sense to put
>forth the effort, such as:
>
>	The king will soon be leading his troops into battle, the royal
>wizard has been plotting to figure out how to seize the throne.  Hah! 
>Instead of working to complete his suit of +5 plate, I'll actually make
>cursed -5!  That's pretty sneaky, it still radiates magic, looks nice,
>etc..
>
>	But...that's pretty rare. More often the function of cursed
>items in most published scenarios is to have them mixed in with the
>hoard just discovered by the adventurers just to add a little danger
>or whatever.  What sort of mega-wizard would sit aruond for weeks
>wasting time and resources constructing items he can chuck in his 
>vault on the off-chance that some persky PCs are going to kill him
>and access his vault? The wizard would have to be rather unstable for
>him/her to do so. I don't see how any dying wizard would gain satisfaction
>from this arrangement.

	I think that cursed items are usually the effect of a mage failing to
create a magical item.  Faliure results in a cursed item, although the mage
may not realize it right away.  It makes sense that the mage, if he learns of
the item's nature, wuold keep it in the vault, both to punish thieves and
simply to have it handy in case he ever needs it.  Also, the owner of the hoard
might not be the original owner, and thus might not be aware of the item's
nature.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  -"I have something to say.  It's better to burn out, than to fade away!"-  |
|                          -* THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE *-                        |
kurgan@choate.edu--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Philip Dutre)
Subject: T$R dropping Spelljammer?
Organization: Dept. Computerwetenschappen
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 13:55:48 GMT

Last week I heard a rumour that T$R intends to drop the Spelljammer range
of products. Does anyone know more about this?

Phil

-- 
| Phil Dutre                            Dept. Computer Wetenschappen        |
| philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be             Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL)|
| Phone: (32) 16 201015 x3094/3552      Celestijnenlaan 200A                |
| Fax:   (32) 16 205308                 B-3001 Heverlee, BELGIUM            |
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: Clayten_Hamacher@mindlink.bc.ca (Clayten Hamacher)
Subject: Re: 'New' way to do attack rolls.
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 22:30:46 GMT

>I can say that Champions is more intuitive, but I can't say that using armor
>to reduce your chances to hit rather than bouncing damage is bad either.
>Why?  Well, statistically speaking you probably shouldn't look just at the
>chance to hit or the chance to do damage.  The process as a whole determines
>damage every round.  You can thus figure out the probability of actually
>hitting and doing a certain amount of damage.  So, no, it's not really
>intuitive necessarily like Champs, but if you take the combined probability
>into account, then it works out OK anyway.
>
>Example: you have a 20 THACO against an AC of 9 -- you hit 50% of the time
>         you have a dagger in hand which does 1d4 damage.  You have
>         a 12.5% chance each to do 1, 2, 3, or 4 points of damage along the
>         lines of straight probability.  It would thus be possible to turn
>         AD&D into a Rolemaster style system all on charts using a % based
>         roll.
>
>In general, they all can tend to have similar effects, but one is much more
>intuitive than the other.

For general sword play you wouldn't see the effects as much as you would when
fighting a BIG monster that hits for a lot.

When fighting a monster that can hit for 30-50 damage you're not going to
want that 4 damage reduction as much as a better chance not to be hit.

With a weak monster they both work out about the same, You get hit less or
you take less from each hit.

Hopefully this rule (playtesting it over the weekend) will discourage
fighters from clunking around dungeons in plate.. Plate armor will start to
be used for what it was meant, melee with other knights using swords.

P.S. It would have a lousy damage reduction vs piercing (Or so I believe from
what I have read) so you wouldn't want to use it around elves.

It should make characters think more about the specific circumstances they
are getting themselves into.



--

Clayten_Hamacher@Mindlink.bc.ca                 Land of the rising snow.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: alex@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Alexander Forst)
Subject: Re: Musical Instruments.....
Organization: Institut fuer Computersprachen, Technische Universitaet Wien
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 14:36:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.181256.24277@dragon.acadiau.ca>, 910252m@dragon.acadiau.ca (Dwayne MacKinnon) writes:
|> People,
|>       Do any of you know if The Bard's handbook has WEIGHTS for the various
|> musical instruments? I'm quite curious, as i enjoy giving my character a 
|> DETAILED encumbrance.....
|> 
|> DMK

Just curious... what have you got? A piano??? :-)

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dad! You shot the Flanders-Zombie!"       |          Alexander Forst
              "He was a Zombie?"           |  alex@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at
                                           |  University of Technology Vienna
                    Bart & Homer Simpson   |  Institute of Computer Languages
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------