In reply to Narrator V (msg # 155):

Looking at the way he's got the roll written, I'm pretty sure that what he's suggesting is statistically better.

For example, a single d12 would normally roll 1 through 12; with the 1/2HD+1 minimum, that could result in a final roll of:

Roll: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 HPs: 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 10 11 12

That's an average roll of 8.25. However, changing that 1d12 to 1d6+6 results in:

Roll: 1 2 3  4  5  6
 HPs: 7 8 9 10 11 12

which is an average roll of 9.5. If we can do this, I'd like to redo my HP roll this way as well....
This message was last edited by the player at 21:11, Fri 28 Apr 2023.

I am fine if we use the suggested method that we roll 1/2 our HD and add the remaining half into the roll. In my case, I have no Con at all but I work with using feats and desecrating altars to increase my undead HP. But then I am a lich so dying is not really the end for my char but rather inconvenience.

I already rolled for Ghanek and I'm satisfied with the results (and it only took me seven iterations. With Garth I just rolled twice.

You are completely right Maynitra. I just didn't break it down. You have in effect doubled your chances of getting a score higher then 8 - while also cutting your chances of getting a 7 in like nearly a 1/3.

I didn't misunderstand the mistake, I addressed it. The +120 isn't what I agreed to. the half dice is. I thought that was his con mod. So for that, that was me assuming. From my text,m however, I explained, and I thought it was clear, he was trading convenience for efficiency. +120 wasn't even what I was looking at. I should have, and if it was confusing, it's probably not because I was confused, but we not clear in explaining.

12d6 is fine instead of 12d12. 6d3 is fine instead of 6d6. But to be explicit, the adder, the fixed value won't change. The upside is ONLY that it sums it. Whomever does this can just see the value and write it down. It will take literally no more than 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) unless ISP is really slow. The downside is that what was minimum, because maximum. The safety net becomes a ceiling. If you want that safety net, you have to roll what's there. IF you want o save time, roll the 1d6 for each d12 and 1d3 for each d6. That's it though.

So I hope that is now clearer. taking what I said, you can see the MINIMUM, the safety net the fact that if you roll a 1, ona d12 you get effectively a 7. That's utterly flipped. Instead, you can roll a 1, and in fact have twice the chance you did, 1 in 6, in 1 in 3. There's no reroll. a 1 is a 1. The only, only, only reason to do this, the ONLY reason to do this...is to save RL time. That's it. HP matter, but I would hope everyone who doesn't realize this, now knows, most things that "kill" you, at this level effective do what HPs are at low level. Death Pact (Spell Compendium version, not the Complete Divine or whatever Bullshit version), True Resurrection, Fortunate Fate, Ring of Nine Lives, REvivify. It think that's all the apex solutions. I may have missed one. If you have 100 HP, or 500 HP, that's different. But 126 and 256. That's not a difference. For those that already know that, you know that, I hope by playing at epic. It's maybe, maybe two actions, the one who died, and one who restored; and that's it. For death Pact, yeah, you're KOed; but it's really fine to brush yourself off. HP matter, if you have 26 HP, you're not ready for Epic. If you have interatives of 150, that's going to be manageable. ~100 is not enough to secure a alive and dead, when HP are what's the method to kill you. It's just not. Most things (Traps and Monsters) also have ways to kill you up to a point I mentioned, that isn't lethal damage. They may very well incap you, and THEN do HP damage, but that's the idea that they want to incap everyone, or at least enough of you to get economy for attacking. Some have death, or imprison effects. At earliest, 27th level, if the group is really, really, really ballsey, or gutsy, you'll run into Soulfire creatures. I won't even let you access those monsters until then. They might as well be unreachable. One, because they have good chance to brick your investment. Two, because why they may be controlled, see point one if you can't, and if you control them you fuck with the dynamic of the actual PCs.

In summary, the +120 is the problem. That was my only error. Thank you for catching that. I assumed it was his Con. Of course he wasn't. Other than that though, I hope I'm crystal clear.

Also, I'm not upset. I'm irritated I overlooked the +120. I'm irritated I missed that. My ASD did not catch the 12 to 120 ratio. In fact, while it's moot, I still don't understand what those numbers are. I don't (think I) need to.

If there's a question, or you want the TL;DR version

1. If you want to save an hour of checking each HD roll, beyond first, roll a die with half the faces. Even though physical d5 (for d10) is cumbersome, it's trivial to do on RPoL.
   
   • I'll even let you reroll 1's. Just roll once, adding in your HP mods (same mod you would if you rolled the full HD. No compensation for die type reduction!) That number will give you your exact HP with current mods, which I know can change with temp HP, con mods, and other effects. Just write that number down. Should take around 2.5 minutes maximum.
   
   
2. You eschew what is a safety net, the minimum half+1, and only gain the RL time you would take (in my experience) rolling it methodically. That is the ONLY benefit. What was your minimum, is now your maximum. A hour can get a phone call to customer service, wash dioshes, spend time with kids, take bath or nap. If you want theat RL time, do it. If not, do it as the HD dictates and just check each roll for rerolls.

I apologize for causing you extra anxiety. It wasn't my intent.

A question for V, but also for the rest of you.

We had previously discussed item familiars, and basically had nixed the idea of the "bonus XP" pool being used for leveling. Maynitra has one -- it's part of her background -- are folks ok with her still having that bonus XP (23,200) to use for spells/items/etc?

I'm asking specifically because I would like to use it to provide xp for casting the Genesis spell -- that is, a spell that creates a demiplane. If she can use the xp in the ring she can cast the spell 4 more times than she'd otherwise be able to... with additional castings possible as she levels up.

As far as the demiplanes themselves, she'll have one of her own no matter what. With the ring, however, she could enlarge hers (up to 720ft radius, or about 1/4 of a mile across) or she could create several (say, 4 of them at 180' radius or 2 at 360' radius each, etc). Although she can't create life within it, she can control the placement of things like the ground and water and such -- which means we could have a body of water within, or caves, or whatever. We can definitely decide what the interior is like... so long as there's space for Maynitra's Refuge.

If we go this route, you should either make sure you set aside 150k for the portal to access it. (Maynitra's cohort has the feats and Maynitra has the spells to actually craft it, so long as you're willing to pay the gold and/or xp.) Or, if we want to create a shared portal, we can split the costs. (Maynitra's already spent the funds for her personal entrance.) Either way, I just wanted to toss this out there, as I thought it might be a good way to have a relatively protected place for meetings/rest/etc.

I am redirecting this question to a formerly closed thread (which I'll open after this post is made). I'll be proxy posting for Maynitra, but the post will remaina facsimile of that above. Please direct discussion of that to the newly opened thread, where discussion points will be cited by a post by me for consideration. You may also want to reread the thread (I didn't yet) as it may have more posts regarding the item Familiar. I simply Ctrl+F to quickly search.

Eek the change of the game name confused me for a moment.

Now two of your games are next to each other. Which yeah kinda of confused me for a minute.

also Vyth is almost done. I just need to type him up and spend his money.

Maynitra what program did you use for your building maps?

In reply to Vythisk (msg # 165):

Dungeon Scrawl is a browser app; I found it quite easy to use for the most part. A few of the sprites I used I had to find elsewhere and import, but you can save your progress locally.

Oh, nice. Thank you.

Quick question - there is a feat - Ignore Spell Components - that require you to be able to cast 9th level arcane or divine spells. I was just wondering if 9th level infusions would fulfill that requirement?

In reply to Vythisk (msg # 167):

I realize that this does not answer your question, but I would point out that Ignore Material Components also requires 25 ranks of Spellcraft, which we can't get quite yet. (At 21st level we max out at 24 ranks in a skill.)

Asking for a hopeful future level. I mean even if infusions count they only go up to 6th so would need three more feats to reach that level. Which would be at best 26th level if I took the first feat as my Epic one.

An Infusion is for Artificer? IIRC. In that case, that will never be possible with the errata from immortals handbook. HOWEVER, I really don't see a problem removing the 9th level casting ability. I see no "gain" that lower level spell cap would grant that creates a net gain. If someone can paint me a picture of how, at epic level, a spellcaster (of one that uses their replacement of spells) of less than 9th level spells would eclipse full casters, I'll hear it. Otherwise, it seems like it isn't necessary to limit. The Spellcraft 25 ranks and Eschew materials seem plenty a prerequisite.

I have a question.  A Wavekeeper is usually a druid but he can be a Ranger.  Now a ranger's caster level from level 4 on is half his ranger level (ie 2 at 5, 3 at 6 and so on).  So a 6th level ranger's caster level is 3.  But except for the first level, the Wavekeeper gets an increased caster level for every level of Wavekeeper.

So a Ranger /Wavekeeper 4 has a caster level of 3+3 = 6 equivalent to a 12th level ranger.

My question is this.  When looking at the Ranger table to see how many spells he has, should I be looking at a 9th level ranger or a 12th level ranger?

A Ranger 6 / Wavekeeper 4 would cast as a 9th level ranger and have the same CL as a 9th level Ranger.

In reply to Ghanek Brightwave (msg # 171):

Vythisk is correct.

Though I went back to look at the class just in case something was odd about it - and the text for caster level increase is not there. It is a weird thing to leave that off. I mean just about every class that increases caster levels has it, but not Wavekeeper.

Yeah, I notice it also gives access to domain spells and the domain granted power but not an extra domain spell.  So it goes.

It adds them to your regular spell list which is better in most ways. Blackwater and Storm are pretty nice for a Ranger - Ocean less so, but still pick up a couple of nice spells from that one.

So, serious question - as I finish Vyth I am torn out how high I want his various Craft skills to be. What do you all think is a good number of skill points to put into Craft? I am thinking at least 5 for those he uses, and maybe up to 10 for ones he is very, very good at. Worth it to go higher do you think? The highest base Craft DC I have found is something like 41, so not sure if he would need even the mid teens let alone 20s.

Yes, I'm thinking of changing Ocean to Blackwater for Garth, Ghanek already has Storm.

So am going to buy a Homunculus - and advanced Dedicated Wiight, and something like 4 Tin Golems. Vyth's personal workforce. Am trying to combine some of the more common magic items into single slots using the MIC.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:30, Fri 12 May 2023.

Life is settling down a bit so I am going to try to get on with sorting my character out now.

Maynitra - I was going to give Vythisk a demiplane that was supposed to be the summit of a low mountain with the only thing - the oak tree form a feather token, and grass just starting to grow. With him just starting to build a base/hoard area. So, was thinking of having a gardener to start making sure it was a balanced ecosystem.

Brookdale! Great to have you back! You still keeping it oozy?

Also, actual rules question. Thinking of getting a gemstone of fortification. It is stated that dragons wedge this into their scales, would that work if he had it embedded in his scales and then was using alternate form?