HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: reza@magellan.ae.utexas.edu (Alireza Vali)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Paladins
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:30:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: ut-emx.78036
Organization: Center for Space Research Imaging Lab, University of Texas at Austin

In article <1992Aug16.204249.10357@wam.umd.edu> you write:
>
>   Has anyone ever seen a well played Paladin?  I know it's a tough class to
>even qualify for, and then players go and spoil it by playing Paladins as
>borderline evil.  One Paladin I knew travelled freely with evil players in
>the group!  My Half-Orc Cleric/Assassin killed an NPC Elven Mage who he had
>stolen a ring from, and the Paladin stood back and let it all pass!  Sure, if
>he would've acted then, I would have toasted him too, but he never did ANY-
>THING about it.
>
[rest deleted]
>
>--JLW

I have never played a Paladin and probably never will.  It's hard enough to
play Lawful Good, but it's even more difficult as a Paladin.  You mention
Paladins who tolerate evil acts.  I think the DM has a lot of say in what
constitutes "Lawful Good" behavior in a Paladin.  This definition varies
with different societies in real life, and it makes sense to let the
DM decide the "society's" definitions of good and evil in his world.
We have a Paladin in our party who is so much of a goody-two-shoes, he's
driving the rest of party nuts with his strictly LG behavior.  The one
exception was one adventure where our party battled an evil cleric & mage
duo.  We managed to capture the mage, and the cleric managed to use his
Plate Mail of Etherealness to escape.  He took his bag 'o platinum with
him.  The mage had his own bag 'o platinum.  While the rest of the party
was interrogating the mage, the party's thief snatched the bag behind our
backs.  The rest of us assumed that the cleric came back for the loot.
It didn't dawn on us that it's pretty stupid to use a charge off such a
highly magical item for a mere bag of platinum.  My Ranger character
confronted the gnome and after some serious threats, confessed to the
sneaky act.  The Paladin drew his sword and was ready to dice the little
guy, and the Ranger had to wrestle him down to prevent this.  The moral
of the story is that (a few days later) the DM told us the instant he
would strike the CG thief with his sword, he would have lost his status
as a Paladin and become a Lawful Neutral fighter.  It wouldn't matter
if he actually killed the thief or not, but the intent was enough to
merit the ruling. 

So you see, it's the DM's job to judge whether character behavior is
in concert with its alignment.  The only important thing (IMHO) is that
he/she be consistent.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY)
Subject: Re: Berserkers and hit points
Summary: Berserkers
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Date: 17 Aug 1992 09:00 EST  

In article <1992Aug14.135302.1806@csd.uch.gr>,
 chrysop@csd.uch.gr (Chrysopoulos Marios 484) writes...

>I'm DMing a low level party and have a fighter who
>wants to be a Berserker.  But we
>have a problem involving the number of hit points below zero the character
>should sustain before dropping dead.
>My first thought was that because a Berserker doesn't feel pain, he can't
>fall unconsious so he will still be fighting until he reaches -10 where he
>dies as all other characters. But my player says that this is not right...
>...he will be fighting until -50 hp just in 5th level!!! I think that this
>makes him way too strong, a lot stronger than the rest of the party and I 
>don't like that. I would like some suggestions...

I firmly agree with you!  A better alternative would be to allow him to 
continue fighting for a number of ROUNDS after reaching 0 (or fewer) hit 
points.  Perhaps one round per level.  That way, at fifth level, he could 
fight for five more rounds before falling unconscious or dead (depending 
upon his hit points at that time).  Just remember, if he doesn't like the 
way YOU want to treat the OPTIONAL Berserker class, he can always choose 
another!  You certainly aren't FORCING him to play a Berserker.

                                                  James S. Zakany
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: thomson@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Michael Thomson)
Subject: Re: Bastard DM From Hell Pt 2
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 21:37:40 GMT

Regarding the weight of the book, all the values I have seen so far have been
intuitive guesses.  Since I had the means for a more quantitative value, I 
thought I would produce it.

The paper we use for our laser printers has a sheet-density of 90g/m^2.
It comes in reams of 500 sheets, which are 2.4" thick.  Creating a 24"x18"x6"
volume of this material would produce a mass of 31.35 kg.  About 69.125 Lbs.

On the other hand, the book would have 1250 pages, each of much larger size 
than normal.  It would be capable of storing 140 ninth level spells.



Some problems with the 69 lb value...  It was calculated using a decent quality
of paper which is much smoother and thinner than would be produced in lo-tech
without magic.  The bindings and locks are not calculated.  This is just a 
very large block of paper.  All in all, after dropping 250-350 pages and 10 lbs
of weight to account for the rougher paper, the 60 lbs decided on by the 
so called "bdmfh" was appropriate.


As far as the ranger ruling goes, the most significant problem I have with it
is that unless made when the character was created, the ruling overrides an
understanding the player had when choosing his character.  I find it difficult
to concieve of situations that would cause a human ranger to turn to heavy 
armor, though it seems natural for an elven ranger.  I think this stems from
a human ranger turning away from his cultural influences in favor of the wild,
while the elf can more easily embrace both.  It would not suprise me if part of
the reason the ranger class is not strongly penalized for wearing heavy armors
is so that the great Elven hunter/scouts can stand in plate alongside their
leaders for massed battles.  It also wouldn't suprise me if it was because 
there were no penalties at all in the first edition.


In summary:
Book--good
Ranger--not so good, but not so much my business.

Michael Thomson
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Movement Rates
From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 16:07:46 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

In article <1992Aug18.090348.7773@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> ba446@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Todd M. Hanson) writes:
>How many miles per day (normal travel) would the following be able to 
>achieve?
> 
>a walking man
>riding/war horse
>wagon
>different sizes of ships
>
>I vaguely remember reading in one of the books (but damned if I can find it
>now) that for a man/horse/monster, that their movement rate is the number
>of miles per day that the creature can travel. (so a riding horse can
>travel 24 miles/day)  Anyone know if this is correct?

	Well, that sounds not unreasonable.  I reckon I could walk a good
twelve miles a day in good country without pushing myself, which works out
to a move of about 12" per turn.  

>Just trying to figure up some semi-realistic travel times for my PC's. (the
>one that Im most in need of is travel time by ship)

	Wish I had my notes here at work.  But I can say it depends not
only on the size of the ship, but the way it's engineered too.  The
traditional miles/per day of a Norse longship was 120, for example.

Cheers,
Carl

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Edlund Anderson	            	"Hefi ek ok aldri sva reitt vapn
canders@isr.harvard.edu			at manni at eigi hafi vidh kommit."
OR
anderso2@husc.harvard.edu			- Skarphedhinn Njalsson 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: proct_hately@hg.uleth.ca (Kintair of Hawkehaven MKA Bill Hately)
Subject: Re: Elven Chain Mail (Why?)
Reply-To: proct_hately@hg.uleth.ca
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 21:48:12 GMT

In article <matt.714425950@unidata.ucar.edu>, matt@unidata.ucar.edu 
(Matt Hicks) writes:
>>For a history of elven chain mail, the reader is referred to "The Lord of
>>the Rings", a fantasy novel series by T.R.R. Tolkein.  Of course, EGG and
>
>That's _J._R.R. Tolkein. And "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" (you can't
>have one without the other) is much more than just "a fantasy novel series."
>It is a classic. To me it defines the genre of fantasy and is the work to
>which all fantasy writers must try to measure up--few have any hope of suc-
>ceeding however. Beyond being an incredibly well conceived epic, it is 
>masterfully written. I really can't imagine anyone being even remotely 
>serious about D&D and not having read these books; that would be like
>someone calling themselves a devout christian, never having read the Bible.
>Buy the series, read it, and you'll _never_ forget it. Amazing.

>Matthew  B.  Hicks    
I don't think I'd go that far - I'd been reading Fantasy for more then 15 years
and playing D&D for over 7 years before I got around to reading Tolkein - of
course that could also be the reason I don't worship him the way some of you do
either  (by the way I personally don't think HE is as great as everybody
claims, but thats just my opinion)
Bill
Kintair of Hawkehaven          | Bill Hately   | Talk (403) 381-1741
Shire of Windwyrm              | Lethbridge AB | proct_hately@hg.uleth.ca
Crown Principality of Avacal   | Canada        | Smile Dammit
An Tir (I wouldn't dream of subjecting any corp. or Educational Institution to
        these opinions, so they certainly aren't the opinions of the UofL)
  (And I'm not an officer of the SCA so I can't have an official opinion There
              - even if I wanted to )
Life is a Sexually Transmitted Terminal Condition
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Kender
From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 15:26:41 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

In article <mxr.714253287@neptune> mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Clinical Whip Cotillion" Rible) writes:
>Has anyone seen a kender played in such a way that it wasn't an
>inconvenience and serious annoyance to a party?

Yes, I played a kender in a party once, that had _another_ kender in it as
well.  I really don't see why everyone dislikes kender so much.  A
competant player who isn't trying to fuck everyone else up can play a very
good kender character.  In our party the kender provided comic relief
non-stop.  We, as players, were sure never to mess with the other
characters stuff in a serious way.  Minor items of theirs would drift into
our posession and usually drift right back into their posession.
Occasionally another PC would get into trouble - like captured and locked
up - and have all his stuff taken away.  Except that then one of the kender
would sneak in and produce some useful object of the captured PC's, that
the kender had "happened across" some days before and would aid in the
escape.

No, if your players are any good, and kender is no more trouble than any
other kind of character.

Cheers,
Carl

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Edlund Anderson	            	"Hefi ek ok aldri sva reitt vapn
canders@isr.harvard.edu			at manni at eigi hafi vidh kommit."
OR
anderso2@husc.harvard.edu			- Skarphedhinn Njalsson 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wcalderw@nmsu.edu (William A. Calderwood)
Subject: Re: Bastard DM From Hell Pt 2
Organization: NMSU Computer Science
	<4799@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> <phil.714031568@adam.adelaide.edu.au>
	<4832@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 16:07:05 GMT


<stuff about rangers and armour and some over weighted book deleted >

Hey why not let the ranger use the book as a wooden shield :)

Bill,
wcalderw@nmsu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wcalderw@nmsu.edu (William A. Calderwood)
Subject: Re: Rangers and studded leather armors (was Re: Bastard DM From Hell Pt 2)
Organization: NMSU Computer Science
	<1992Aug19.085817.25653@cfmu.eurocontrol.be>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 03:07:35 GMT

>
>There is something else than thieving skills :
>
>Players' Handbook 2nd edition, page 28 :
>When wearing studded leather or lighter armor, a ranger can fight
>two-handed with no penalty to his attack rolls.
>
>Any character (or is it only fighter type classes?) can fight with

Thats any character class. Think about it what would prevent any one
from using two weapons if he/she should choose to. (except a low dex
as shown below. 


>two weapons but they suffer the following penalties to their attack
>rolls:
>			Penalty with
>	DEX	main weapon	secondary weapon
>	15-	    -2			 -4
>	16	    -1			 -3
>	17-18	     0			 -2
>
>
>-- 
>Marc PHILIPS                    Eurocontrol - Central Flow Management Unit
>marc@cfmu.eurocontrol.be        Avenue des Arts 19h
>Tel: +32 2 729 33 09            B-1040 BRUXELLES
>Fax: +32 2 729 32 16            Belgium


Bill
wcladerw@nmsu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: dmccart@gomez.intel.com (D. J. McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Elven Chain Mail (Why?)
Organization: Funky Groovy Channel 27
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 22:39:59 GMT

Michael G. Wright (wright@latcs1.lat.oz.au) wrote:
> Can anyone out there give me any good reason why elves (a sylvan race who 
> prefer to work with nature and wood than craft metal etc) are able to make
> a special chain mail that nobody else can make??

	In my campaign (set on a planet called Empyrea), elves use a
special ingredient in their chain mail that nobody else does: aluminum.

	Certain tribes of elves have found a way of harnessing
electricity.  Electricity is a vital ingredient in refining aluminum (or
at least it was when aluminum was scarce and valuable, like around the
time the Washington Monument was built).  Since nobody else uses
electricity, nobody else can refine aluminum, and so nobody can use it to
make armor.

	This is why elven chain is so lightweight, and so valuable.  It's
also why there's no such thing as magical elven chain mail on Empyrea -
aluminum can't be enchanted.


	Empyrean elves also make another, more easily justified, unique
type of armor, which for lack of a better name I've called Elven
Leather.  It's seamless, enchantable, and so flexible even wizards can
wear it.  I mainly invented it so that 1st-level wizards in my game
wouldn't feel so naked.  Have them find a nonmagical suit of the stuff,
and even though they're still only AC 8 they feel a lot better about
themselves.


--
D. J. McCarthy <dmccart@gomez.intel.com>
"You'll find that people will forgive truly huge mistakes when they are
 freely admitted, and pursue tiny transgressions with fury when
 they are lied about."                  --Jerry Anderson, alt.security, 6/24/92
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: jjonsson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Tarresque - Anyone killed one?
Keywords: terrasque
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:34:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: alexandr.jjonsson.93
Organization: Marriott Library, University of Utah

In article <1992Aug20.010002.3179@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes:

>Terrasque #1 and #2 swiped at the AC -12 Ranger for a while, to little
>effect, while he and the cleric-turned-fighter killed #1 in two rounds
>with weapon hits.  I parked the Sphere in the middle of the 10'
>diameter corridor and let loose with my Wand of Polymorphing for a few
>rounds, to no discernible effect (Magic Resistance is adjusted by 5%
>per level around 11th, so the Wand, at 6th, gave Mr. T +25% to each
>MR roll).

>After three rounds of melee, #3 ran AROUND my Sphere (yeah, sure, Todd)

Three Terrasques? Check your MC or MM or whatever you use, the Terrasque is 
unique, only one may exist in any campaign (I know you can do whatever you 
want, but. . .) Has anyone noticed that the page in the MC detailing the 
Shadow has in the picture, a shadow of the Terrasque? Funny. Very funny.


Jeff Jonsson
Marriott Library System Support, University of Utah.
==============================================================================
--"It's the sound of the secret--  jjonsson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu
-- machinery at the center of  --  jjonsson@utahlib.bitnet
-- the world." -Cliff Steele   --  "You talkin' to me?"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: adray@Chaos.mcs.kent.edu (Adam Dray)
Subject: Re: Tarresque - Anyone killed one?
Organization: Kent State University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 19:00:28 GMT

In article <u894793.714246199@bruny>, u894793@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (Timothy D Little) writes:
|> 
|> I'm interested in knowing if anyone has ever actually killed a Tarresque in a
|> non-Monty Haul campaign.  Any stories?

It's a trick question.

Tarrasques don't exist in non-MH, non-Munchkin campaigns.


						Adam.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: gregs@meaddata.com (Greg Smith)
Subject: Re: Psionic-problem 
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 15:07:54 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.102612.27049@ifi.uio.no>, kjetilgr@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Granlien) writes:
|> 
|>  Recently my campaign purchased the psionic handbook.
|> And at once I, as a DM, and some of my players have trouble 
|> with the new Psionist.
|> I know there has been discussion about this before.. but I don't
|> think this particular matter ever was covered.
|> 
|>  My question is this:
|> 
|> What would you do if a psionist used (oh sh.. I forgot the name of the
|> power. let me describe it: you become almost like ethernalness.
|> That is a fog.. or cloud and you are able to pass through material as
|> if it didn't exist. You can take with you some pounds of equipment 
|> in the change as well. You know what I mean!?)
|> to kill people. The way he does it is he goes into his cloudlike state
|> and takes his sword with him. Then he sneaks(glides, floats) up on the 
|> monster(or npc or pc) and he puts his sword through the enemy's body(or head)

He doesn't have a sword at that point.  It's part of the cloud, right?  He
doesn't have hands for that matter.

|> and then he goes back to normal form. The sword which is now solid is 
|> potruding from it's victims head or body.. Death follows quite naturally.
|> 
|> What I have ruled from time to time, is that the cloud has been noticed 
|> before getting within range. The Psionist won't be able to hit anything 
|> with a sword as solid as a cloud. Of course he can't be hit either.
|> 
|> What bothers me is that this state of being is a TOTAL defense.
|> It is not like ethernalness where one oponents can hurt you if it is
|> on the same plane.
|> 
|> What may hurt this cloud??

I don't have this psionic handbook so I don't know what it says.  If I were
you I would have *something* be able to hurt them.  Maybe treat it like
gaseous form and have magical fire and magical lightning? hurt them.

|> 
|> As a thought, I'd say that this power was made to allow a psionist to pass
|> through walls or doors, not as a combat-power.
|> 
|> When I'm writing about this.. What can stop a psionist in this state from 
|> passing through a wall or door??

If it bothers you, let wall of force or lead or *something* stop it.

|> 
|> Enough questions for now.. 
|> 
|> Kjetil Granlien
|> ---
|>  "Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
|>   And deep beneath the rolling waves
|>   In labyrinth of coral caves
|>   The echoes of a distant time comes willowing across the sand.."
|> 						PinkFloyd, Echoes
|> ---
|> 
|> 
|> 

Talk it over with the player and rebalance the game,

-- 
Greg Smith

DISCLAIMER:  My ideas are entirely my own unless MDC decides to patent them.
I am not empowered to speak for Mead Data Central or Mead Corporation.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: hoff@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Wildfire)
Subject: Re: Kender
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 21:44:06 GMT

mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Clinical Whip Cotillion" Rible) writes:

>raycole@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Ray Cole) writes:
>>Hello, this may be a FAQ and if it is please point me to where I can get the
>>FAQ list and I'll be happy.  Anyway, I'm currently running a campaign and one
>>of the players has expressed interest in running a kender; however I don't have
>>any stats and such on the kender race.  Can anyone tell me where I might find
>>all the stats and such for kender?  Any and all help will be appreciated.

>Be careful having a kender in your party.  Kender are one of the
>favourite races for munchkins to play: they're effectively thin
>halflings with a genetic predisposition to kleptomania.  

Then they obviously weren't played right ;)  Kender are interesting because
they're not afraid of ANYTHING.  They also love to run off at the mouth, 
telling wild stories.  Also, their kleptomania should be rather selective,
like crows, they are attracted to bright shiny objects, feathers, etc.
They don't necessarily steal valuable things, and they have a different 
definition of value.  That very expensive antique broach could very well
take place to a stone with an interesting pattern, a bright feather,
or a small worthless trinket.  I would love to play a kender, but a 
campaign hasn't quite come up yet that would be appropriate yet.

One poster mentioned that Kender are in the Dragon Lance compendium.  For
the way a true Kender should be roleplayed, read one of the books.

			-Wildfire-

 ||    Wildfire  ||  hoff@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu  ||  lmh44500@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu  ||
 || "Computers are just the opposite of people.  In computers the software ||
 ||  goes into the hardware.  In people the hardware..." Torchsong Trilogy ||
 || disclaimer:  "...my love, you, if anyone, should know that my rules    ||
 ||         only apply to other people, not myself"  -Friday               ||
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: Rannou@info.polymtl.ca (Patrick Rannou)
Subject: Re: Gender in D&D
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 10:38:15 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.170809.19627@nic.umass.edu> rjr@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Richard J. Resnick) writes:


   Hello, everyone.

   I am a fairly frequent reader of this newsgroup, and am curious as to how many
   female readers/posters we have on this group. It interests me that very few
   D&D players are female (unless I can of course be proven wrong), and I was cu-
   rious as to whether or not there are really any female players who read this
   group.

   I am currently running an internet campaign, where all seven of the party mem-
   bers are male, and only one of them role-plays a female character. In previous
   experience with D&D as well, I have found a real lack of female participation,
   although female players have always added to any party I have ever gamed with.

   Interested in what you all have to say about this... use email, or post. Thanks
   in advance for the conversation.

   Richard Resnick


I don't want to appear sexist or anything, but with years of gaming I've
got the feeling that males are more prone to use their imagination in
"fantasy" ways. Male are more "players", while females are more
down-to-earth, common sense, I don't know. 

Still, it's NOT a general statemeent at all. Just some "tendency" that I
noticed and that may not even be true. Nonetheless, I find that roleplaying
in general interest males moe than femelaes.

Heck, I noticed that GAMING in general, ANY kind of gaming, interest males
more than females.


Pat.
--
/---------------------------\
| Patrick "Paradak" Rannou. |
| Rannou@info.polymtl.ca    |
\---------------------------/

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd