HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Psionic-problem
Date: 13 Aug 92 15:58:16 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@pmax1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1992Aug13.150754.23148@meaddata.com> gregs@meaddata.com (Greg Smith) writes:
>In article <1992Aug13.102612.27049@ifi.uio.no>, kjetilgr@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Granlien) writes:
>|> 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.

	I believe it's "Ectoplasmic Form".

>|> 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.

	I'll agree that this is probably the INTENDED usage. However, if
the GM has chosen to say that the cloud stays the same shape as the
PC the GM has a problem.

	You can, of course, just say "okay, I made a mistake" and then tell
the player (after their next SUCCESS, don't screw them in the middle of
something): "He's dead. However, now that you've been using the power for
quite a while, you suddenly come to a realization that almost makes you
faint: While your SHAPE remains the same, the matter that's IN each part
of the shape drifts around like any cloud. You have just been incredibly
lucky, when you resolidified, that it WAS your sword there instead of
your arm or your leg!"

	However, I'd say that now that you've allowed it, live with it.

>|> 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??

	How about a psionic attack? After all, he's using one MEGA-powerful
talent and this could EASILY be calling in psychic opponents from all over.

	Since it's "Ectoplasmic", this is basically the stuff of pure
life and existence, so energy-draining creatures would be able to take
his levels like that even if they couldn't do physical damage.

	I think Wall of Force is supposed to stop it too.

>Talk it over with the player and rebalance the game,

	Games balance themselves. Don't panic.


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: wynblatt@sbgrad5.cs.sunysb.edu (Michael Wynblatt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: The cure for Liches
Keywords: lich
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:44:00 GMT
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook

In article <1992Aug17.230552.4470@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes:

>Now, if your DM has magical creatures utterly dispelled by this spell,
							[anti-magic shell]
>it becomes much too powerful.  You can kill deities that way.  Any
>Elemental is instantly extinguished.  Any undead is instantly
>destroyed.  Any god becomes just a guy with lots of hit points.
>
>But if your DM decides that the lich isn't killed by the spell, but
>he's still hit only by magical weapons (or tough monsters), you're in a
>heap of trouble.  'Cuz when you're in that Anti-Magic Shell with a +1
>sword, it stops glowing.  You'd better have a friendly 6+ Hit Die
>monster nearby, or that lich is gonna be darned hard to hit.
>

In TSR's "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" there's a vampire mage in one
of the encounters.  I don't know if it was just my GM's idea or if
the module suggests it, but the vampire attacked us with Anti-Magic
shell in place.  Our party, about 10 characters with a a lot of magic,
was reduced to throwing lots of vials of Holy Water.  We ended up
running for our lives . . . it wasn't pretty.

Michael Wynblatt
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: The cure for Liches
Keywords: lich
Date: 17 Aug 92 23:05:52 GMT
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
Originator: kjenks@krakatoa

In article <14518@borg.cs.unc.edu> taylorr@debussy.cs.unc.edu (Russell Taylor) writes:
>
>	While furiosly attempting to save his skin from the impending
>assault of a giant sword-wielding Lich, Lamdor [cast Anti-Magic Shell]

Now, if your DM has magical creatures utterly dispelled by this spell,
it becomes much too powerful.  You can kill deities that way.  Any
Elemental is instantly extinguished.  Any undead is instantly
destroyed.  Any god becomes just a guy with lots of hit points.

But if your DM decides that the lich isn't killed by the spell, but
he's still hit only by magical weapons (or tough monsters), you're in a
heap of trouble.  'Cuz when you're in that Anti-Magic Shell with a +1
sword, it stops glowing.  You'd better have a friendly 6+ Hit Die
monster nearby, or that lich is gonna be darned hard to hit.

(AD&D1 rules:  Liches are immune to normal weapons and attacks from
monsters less than 6 HD.)

Picture this: a Lich with a Thet (from the Egyptian god, Ptah) which
casts an Anti-Magic Shell which does not affect the caster's magic.
Any creature hit only by magic weapons would be problematic, but a
Lich is a worst-case scenario.  Ptah gives these things out to
creatures who invent new magical do-dads.  Liches have plenty of time
to invent things.  It's good to be a lich.

-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
      kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368

      The company stood rooted to the ground in terror.
      The creature was about fifty feet tall, with wide
      lapels, long dangling participles, and a pronounced
      gazetteer.
        "Aiyee!" shouted Legolam.  "A Thesaurus!"
        "Maim!" roared the monster.  "Mutilate, mangle,
      crush.  See HARM."
        "Quick," cried Goodgulf.  "Into the cavern!"
         -- "Bored of the Rings," National Lampoon, (c) 1969
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: pascal@nextasy.physics.mcmaster.ca (Pascal Gaudette)
Subject: Re: Berserkers and hit points
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 22:55:56 GMT

In article <1992Aug17.152527.17082@meaddata.com> gregs@meaddata.com (Greg Smith)  
writes:
> Now about this fighting past 0 and living past -10: I
> (personally) might consider letting the players stay
> consious until -5, or as someone else suggested, use a die
> roll (say 1d4 or 1d6).  I certainly would still  rule that
> -10 is death.   
> 

How about having the character make a saving throw versus death
every round after he passes zero? If he makes it, he can go on.
If he fails:
a) he falls unconscious if he's between 0 and -10
B) he dies right away if he's below -10 (Quite a spectacular
way to die!)
Add a -1 penalty to the saving throw for every 5 hit points lost
below -10.

This way, a low level beserker will probably fall unconscious
very quickly after passing zero, but a high level one can
defy death itself for a long time (if he's lucky) and actually
die while he's still holding his sword, before he even hits the
floor!

Opinions?

> Don't let this person convince you to let them turn
> themselves into a terminator, 
> 

Agreed, the beserker is an optional class in any case. Don't
let players bully you into giving them an advantage you feel
is unfair.

--
Pascal "The Rascal" Gaudette       pascal@nextasy.physics.mcmaster.ca
MacNUG president                      | *NeXTmail encouraged* 
graduate student, McMaster university | Je ne suis pas infaillible.
Physics and astronomy dep.            | Vive le Quebec LIBRE!
From: tmiller@prism.gatech.EDU (Thomas Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Tarresque - Anyone killed one?
Date: 20 Aug 92 18:51:52 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology



  Hmm.  I always wanted to pit the party that I DM-ed against the
tarrasque.  We never got the chance, though.  I'm sure they don't
mind.
  Actually, the tarrasque is no more than a rabid dog compared to
Hastur, of the Cthuhlu mythos of the AD&D 1st edition Dieties &
Demigods.  At 600' in height, Hastur could just kick the tarrasque
out of his way, or step on it, or whatever.
  Ahh...if I could just bring Godzilla and some of his buddies into
the AD&D world...I guess this would be more appropriate for some
kind of super heroes game.
  Just my two cents.


-- 
Thomas Miller     Georgia Tech Network Services     GT EE 1992 (?!) 
WORK: (404) 853-0254 / Rich Bldg Rm 127, 258 4th St Atlanta, Ga. 30332
HOME: (404) 876-7929 / 345 Peachtree Pl NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30318 
Internet: tmiller@prism.gatech.edu OR Thomas.Miller@oit.gatech.edu
From: a_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: AD&D Mailing list (Where is it?)
Date: 14 Aug 92 03:24:03 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Aug14.003348.27684@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>, gupw@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Paul Wagland) writes:
> Could someone out there please send me the address of the AD&D mailing
> list and details on how to join it.
> 
> Thanks in advance

	LISTSERV@UTARLVM1.UTA.EDU is where you send the SUBSCRIBE ADND-L "name"
command to, and the list is ADND-L@utarlvm1.uta.edu.

Brandon Cope
From: mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Boring Slime Distemper" Rible)
Subject: Re: Tarresque - Anyone killed one?
Organization: Digital Sound Corporation
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 00:25:17 GMT

mikew@mdcbbs.com (Mike 'the Bard' Whitaker) writes:
>>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?

>                               the elven archer in the party heaved a 
>mighty sigh and pulled out her once in a lifetime gift from Correllan 
>Larethian, a one use arrow of slaying anything once she'd touched it.
...
>                                She managed not to lose an arm getting a 
>touch on the tarrasque, and then dropped back, sent up a quick prayer and 
>fired....

>It fell over... 

>Whether it was REALLY dead or not, the party weren't about to speculate on, so
>the druid deposited it under a very deep rock to mud spell, and they carried 
>on, fingers crossed.

>It's been a hundred and twenty game years...

>I think it's about time it woke again...

This would imply the tarrasque is a divine being itself.  If Corellon
Larethian--- head of the elvish pantheon and being an archer himself---
declares an arrow will be able to kill anything, it will kill (not
render dormant) anything that is capable of being dead.  If the 
tarrasque is going to wake up again, that means that either (a)
Corellon Larethian isn't that powerful or (b) that the tarrasque is
a mythic monster on the level of some sort of god in its own right.
Be careful when cheapening gifts from deities; news of this could
seriously undermine the faith of the religion when it turns out that
Corellon's power couldn't slay a creature that can be taken out by
mortals.
/-------------v-----------------------v---------------------------------------\
| Max Rible   | mxr@dsc.com           | "Powerful big rats, gentlemen."       |
|             | rible@vorpal.ucsb.edu |                         - Neil Gaiman |
\-------------^-----------------------^---------------------------------------/
--
From: mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Postdoctoral Perspiration" Rible)
Subject: Re: Anecdotes... Death... How come?
Organization: Digital Sound Corporation
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:49:06 GMT

seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>In article <BsxoA4.FHH@acsu.buffalo.edu> swann@acsu.buffalo.edu (Stephen Swann) writes:
>>I'm not familiar with Arduin.  In all the roleplaying systems I'm
>>familiar with, being 12th level is pretty powerful, being 16th level
>>is WAY powerful, and being more than 20th level is essentially unheard
>>of except in gods, demigods and soon-to-be-gods.

>	In Arduin, which is very similar to the D&D/AD&D milieu, the powers
>tend to be just nastier overall. "Caliban" and "Death Heart", modules 
>published for  Arduin, are good examples. They say "levels 8+", but
>a party of AD&D 8th levelers would be diced, sliced, pureed, chopped,
>and formed into neat edible squares. I tend to double levels required in
>Arduin. Their character classes have tables going up from level 1 to level
>100 or so, so it's supported all the way through.

Arduin is bloody *dangerous* to an AD&D character that happens to
wander onworld.  There are delightful things such as the emerald ooze
(I think it is) that is a form of slime that can fly quite quickly,
and does damage to you by turning portions of you into more emerald
oozes, which can automatically hit it.  There are lots of monsters 
that are immune to many forms of magical attack and are really
vulnerable to only certain combinations (I think it's lightning + fire
that compose "thunder" that only some are harmed by).

The premise is that it's a highly magical world, and so when you
roll on traits tables, you can get anything up to being the son of
a demon lord.  There are some munchkins locally who have the Arduin
traits tables xeroxed, and they figure you can roll on your table
as many times as you like, as long as you keep everything you roll.
They tend to have superhuman stats as a matter of course.  (This
probably isn't the Arduin way of doing the trait tables...)  Of
course, one GM said, "Ah, well, if they come by, I'll make sure
I use the Arduin critical and fumble tables with respect to their
characters."  This appears to be a significant threat...

>	You also seem to assume that anyone REALLY works a character up
>to 25+ level. I was playing NPCs with other GMs. You don't work Sauron
>up from first level, you say "hmm. Dark Lord of Middle Earth. Gotta be
>high level." and give him one.

You can usually tell the difference between a character that was created
at high level and one that was adventured up to high level.  The latter
can take out the former without any difficulty:  by the time a character
has been adventured up, he has so many tricks and sneaky things that
he's much, much more dangerous.
/-------------v-----------------------v---------------------------------------\
| Max Rible   | mxr@dsc.com           | "Powerful big rats, gentlemen."       |
|             | rible@vorpal.ucsb.edu |                         - Neil Gaiman |
\-------------^-----------------------^---------------------------------------/
-- 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: Rannou@info.polymtl.ca (Patrick Rannou)
Subject: Re: Tarresque - Anyone killed one?
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada
	<1992Aug19.234212.19759@leland.Stanford.EDU>
	<1992Aug20.111513.10456@spdcc.com>
	<1992Aug20.124943.28331@watson.ibm.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 09:31:09 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.124943.28331@watson.ibm.com> royle@highland.manassas.ibm.com (Matthew Royle x4553 highland) writes:



   p.s. My character (rastafan) does not play in a monty haul campaign, our DM
	is against gold and magic items.  At 18th level (played up from first)
	I have seen a total of 4 magic items.... One of which is a weapon that
	I carry.  And the same goes for the other two members in our group, and
	between us, we have 150 gold coins. (I am 18th, the ranger 20th, and the
	druid is 16th level) We have played for a long time and have defeated
	some pretty powerful foes, much more powerful than a tarrasque would ever
	be...



That reminds me aboujt that PC who was 20th level and had seen only ONE
magic item in his whole life... From 1st to 20th level! The only problem
is, he went up a level every 15 minutes of gametime... ;-)

He was played only once, too. And for laughs, as you could have guessed.

I mean, going up to godhood in a mere 6 hours of playing? HA!

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

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: joeg@meaddata.com (Joe Gayda)
Subject: Re: A really neat character!
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 19:11:31 GMT
Distribution: usa

In article <1992Aug17.204322.12432@sei.cmu.edu>, jbm@sei.cmu.edu (Jason Mahoney) writes:
|>    I was wondering, does anybody have any ideas for a really neat character?


I really like to develop a personality about my character, before I
start to play and then further develop it as the roleplaying
progresses.  These personality traits can be amusing or handicapping.
To easily add personality to a character, you can identify hatreds,
fears, desires, goals...etc.

For instance:

  I just finished (he died) playing a Druid, by the name of Roque
  (Rock).  Rock seemed very normal when the party met him.  However
  he, wouldn't go into cities, wouldn't sleep inside a buildings and
  was very afraid of large gatherings of people.  Not only was he
  intimidated by civilization, but he was afraid of lightning and 
  thunder.  (Very insecure person)  Every day the DM would roll for 
  the change in weather, and the first night that it stormed, the
  party couldn't believe that the Druid sat their and wimpered with
  his head covered.  To top all of this off, he had an animal friend,
  a squirrel that followed him about.  He was very protective of his
  squirrel, and would immeadiately forget his fears, if his squirrel
  was endangered.  One night, the party was suprised by a large
  caravan of orcs.  Our party (5 - 1st and 2nd level character),
  started to run.  (100 + orcs)  We easily escaped because we saw them
  coming.  After we escaped is when Roque realized his squirrel was
  still back there.  Needless to say, the party almost died, but
  Roque got his squirrel back.

  Along these line you could play a thief that if afraid of the dark!
  A friend of mine did this, and it was hysterically fun.

  My next character is going to a Dwarven fighter, using the 7d6
  method, add to a base of 8 for each ability, I rolled up the
  following character.  (Racial Modifications included)
  (Dice rolls were: 6, 4, 4, 5, 1, 3, 6)

  Str: 18/83
  Dex: 17
  Int: 8
  Wis: 8
  Con: 19
  Cha: 7

  Specialized in 2-HD sword, proficent with longbow and longsword

  Non-Weapon Skills: Bowyer-Fletcher, Blind Fighting

  +5 save vs. magic, +6 save vs. poison, +5 HP/level

  Armor class of 0 with plate mail and dexterity.

  Starts with a strength bow. (+5 to hit, +4 to damage)

  He is afraid of people with high charisma.  They make him very
  nervous, and he doesn't trust them.  He dislikes people that have
  a bark that's bigger than their bite.  (e.g.  They are all talk)
  This is a character that's a fighter, not a talker.  A very loyal
  person, a quickly becomes friends with those who enjoy some strong
  drink.


--
Joe Gayda           | The probability of       |          (513) 865-1560   
Mead Data Central   | someone watching you     |     
P.O. Box 933        | is proportional to the   |       joeg@meaddata.com
Dayton, Ohio  45401 | stupidity of your action | ...!uunet!meaddata!joeg
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Anecdotes... Death... How come?
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:26:25 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@pmax1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <wakePB2w165w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes:
>seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>> 	The lowest level character death was first. The highest level character
>> death of mine was 67th.

>Is that a short, shameful confession or what?

	Shameful? What am I supposed to be ashamed OF?

	The high level? Heck, now there are even published modules that
allow for three-digit levels. And the Arduin Grimoire had level charts that
went to 100th level. Rolemaster goes over level 50.

	The character in question was being played in a GMs game (where we
GMs played the characters that would never see regular play) and died
heroically.

>Personally I retire AD&D characters when they hit 15th level.  Otherwise it
>just gets silly.

	"Silly"? Why? Because there's nothing anyone can think for him/her
to do?

	While my games lately have been stopping at around 13th level for
the PCs, that's more because the players have by then evolved some new
concepts they want to use, or because the PCs are by then big enough to
have found some more permanent posts... and are much less likely to be
running around on adventure. Nonetheless, I have to run those higher level
characters every so often just to find out what's been going on in the 
world lately...

>Seriously, though, characters of mine that hit level 15 do tend to become
>NPCs. By that time they usually have a good deal of personality and
>background, so they make ideal trainee demigods.  Next time you need a spot
>of divine intervention, drop in an NPC who's trying to rise up through the
>celestial hierarchy.  Gods are more interesting when they have developed
>personalities and backgrounds.


	Very true indeed, and something always to be emphasized. 

	And it's also something very well handled by _The Primal Order_;
buy it. Steal it at night and leave money on the counter. Beg your GM
for a copy. It's worth it.

                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: cb317@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Stephanie J. Kessler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: RE: Elven Chain Mail (why?)
Date: 21 Aug 92 22:09:55 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)


If I understand Elven Chain Mail correctly,there is no "magic"
involved in its creation.  It is the way it is made and the
materials used which gives it its properties (which as far as I
can remember, its only ability is its lightweight nature).
It can be worn by mages and thieves with little penalty, and it
can be worn under normal clothes (perfect for running around in
a forest).  Also, not all elves are sylvean in nature.  Many DM's
I know say that true Sylvean elves are the Wood Elves.  Others
tend to be more interested in other cultures and so forth... Just
depends on what the player and DM think when they say elves...
-- 
The United States is a nation of laws:  badly written and
randomly enforced.     Frank Zappa

cb317 @ cleveland.Freenet.Edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY)
Subject: Re: Psionic-problem
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Date: 13 Aug 1992 12:26 EST  

In article <1992Aug13.102612.27049@ifi.uio.no>,
 kjetilgr@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Granlien) writes...

> Recently my campaign purchased the psionic handbook.

Mistake number one (I hate psionics).

>What would you do if a psionist used (the 'fog man' thingy)
>to kill people. The way he does it is...

Simply disallow rematerialization inside another object.

>What bothers me is that this state of being is a TOTAL defense.
>What may hurt this cloud??

A magical weapon would certainly hurt a 'fog man' (if it hurts a ghost...)
Also, a large beast might breathe him in (yuck).  A summonned whirlwind 
would cause considerable damage to the 'fog man'.  And, I would imagine, a 
good number of spells would harm him, too.  Being a 'fog' would not negate 
the effects of a 'magic missile', 'sleep', 'fireball', etc...

>Kjetil Granlien

                                                  James S. Zakany
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd