My players shall curse you for the fun you’ll have given me on their next trek out of the city. I’m think Yeth hound stats but I’m flexible atm. Maybe a shadow.
Have him stab the mayor who’s evil because he’s greedy and selfish and borderline abusive in trade-deals with neighboring regions but is otherwise beloved (and has rewards heaped on him) because he’s so good at actually keeping order in the town and keeping their goodwill (although probably at least a little bit through some passive-aggressive blackmail). That’s always fun.
Ah, the good ol’ “I’m not, but actually am, but not enough that I should get a raise, but I really would like one and less work hours, but I really need to stay longer because I’m so slow at everything I do and am terrible at focusing so I should really be working harder to give you your money’s worth, but you’re probably not paying me as much as you should be for that work in hindsight” theoretical with yourself and your imagined boss.
Unless there’s a bug. Then it is my code and I have to fix it. Immediately. No, I don’t want to discuss my thought process for “why I made that decision” I want to fix it. Why are we having a chat about milk pouring technique while it is dripping off the fucking table. Prod is burning and you want to fiddle! (Meanwhile this is a minor bug that nobody has ever actually complained about but just the knowledge that it was my fault…)
100% approve. Would strongly consider rolling something like a d4 to determine how the demon reacted (modified by species, because a palrethees isn’t likely to attack). So for a palrethees it’d be like:
1 - Furious, bitter anger. Every deal it makes for the next d12 weeks is entirely centered on ruining the fighter in the most humiliating and harmful ways possible. Leaving dead innocents (like children or loose acquaintances) in their rooms to frame them, assaulting loved ones repeatedly whenever they think they’re safe to cause them suffering, slandering them ahead of their travels, or even just trying to assassinate them.
2 - Cold respect and a reward for the fighter’s cleverness. Maybe money or even a magic item, that comes with huge strings. (It was stolen, its cursed, someone very dangerous wants it, etc)
3 - Indifference and pulsing its fear creating affect just to be spiteful and drive away the fighter
4 - Actual amusement and a decision to follow the fighter around. Their new “friend” would probably amuse themselves in the same way any demon would, so atrocities would follow the fighter indirectly, the demon would get to make deals with those the fighter wronged/conflicted with for their souls, and maybe the demon even “helps” the fighter on occasion. As seen through the guise of a demon’s idea of helpful of course. It might also just wander away after a week or so after it got bored.
Dirty litter boxes increase the chance of urinary tract infection and can speed up their death if the infection reaches their kidneys, literally one of the weakest parts of cats as they age. So no, not “ok whatever”. You took responsibility for the life of something. Time to own up to the gross part of that. (Like changing a baby’s diaper)
Also, paying close attention to your cat’s feces and urine can warn you about internal issues like kidney stones by the shape of the pee or the appearance of the stool. (Seriously, once a day for cleanout isn’t remotely enough, no wonder its so gross you don’t want to touch it)
I’d say scoop it out, or at least check, every time you see it and dump it out when it gets too stinky, scrub it, dry it, and put in new litter. Even a functional electric one, which according to my brother does work, will need some kind of cleaning at some point so the responsibility is never completely escapable. Seriously though, my brother swears by the electric box he got after his own cat was constantly at the vets from UTIs due to him being the only person ever cleaning her box.
As for the anxiety? This seems like an extreme reaction for a litterbox in comparison to all the other never-ending chores we have to do on the day to day. The litterbox is comparatively easy to work, commute, balancing our bank accounts, or taxes. Are you okay?
I mean, are you miserable? Or are you just using the wrong expectation for being happy? Because overly unrealistic expectations can make any ever-present annoyance, like the day to day dealings of entropy and decay, an inescapable hell.
Assuming its not hunger or bathroom related, in my experience its because the cat’s bored. He enjoys the walks and has fun, and the walk probably fulfills a need to “patrol” his territory which he finds rewarding, but he can’t go on the walk often enough - or long enough - for his tastes. So he figures if he yells you’ll let him go patrol some more. I’d say redirect him . Play with him in the house for 10-15 minutes, then wrap it up with a kitty treat and he should go take a nap for a bit. You could also hide his food around the house come feeding time to encourage him to patrol his home instead of being focused on doing it outside.
I have no idea if any of that would work, every cat’s different. I can distract mine from wanting in rooms (he refused to wear a leash and so cannot go outside so he’s vocal at closed doors) just by playing with him or giving him attention usually. But its also temporary and he’ll do it again. Alternatively you could do the earplug-ignore thing when he cries at the door/harness but invest additional time to engage him when he’s quiet, that way you aren’t encouraging the behavior if you don’t want to be.
If he’d gotten powers from the divine oath-giver he’d be a Warlock or Cleric, dependent upon the nature of their relationship and the being’s powers.
If he got the powers himself from his absolute rigid dedication to his oath, then he’d be a 5e Paladin (I prefer “Dedicant” or “Crusader” for which Paladin should be a specific Oath but that’s a different conversation).
Otherwise in older editions he’d probably just be a devout warrior.
For those older editions he’d only be a Paladin if the oath he held to was far more specific and arguably he and several of the other hobbits were a bit too quick and dirty for. Particularly during the era of Racial restrictions to classes which didn’t allow halfling Paladins. (Assuming halflings to hobbits is 1:1 in all settings, which is far less consistent over time.)
It continues to worsen the longer you try and consider the motivation for the 11 year old. Of which I can think of at least 2, if not more, but I’ll spare us all.
Simple rules that can describe almost every situation are also rules that over-generalize characters to the detriment of options (everyone’s noticing the same things, instead of perception allowing more observant characters to do what they could do), over-include the player’s capabilities in place of the character’s. (Players conversational skills failing to match with those of the character they intend to play), overly abstract what they describe (a monster’s “power” or a character’s actual abilities meaning something in adjudication but nothing consistent/concrete enough in-world), or demand a DM adjudicate without reinforcement or restriction (In the absence of rules every corner case ruling risks the danger of turning the table into a debate between PCs and the DM, inviting rapid ends and either producing embittered DMs or embittered players* - especially under the “pack it up” approach the video suggests - and helping to increase combative tables in the future.)
The games that OSR takes inspiration from did a lot right in their mortal power-level, reasonable growth, real risk of danger, and humanistic tones but if you’re trying to sell me that the growth of rules that followed aren’t a direct result of weaknesses in those games? I don’t think we’ll agree.
*The “Dorkness Rising” problem, for a slightly more light-hearted allusion.
Thank you, I think that helps parse out where I was unclear. There’s specifics in the language at play. It makes me wonder how often bad actors prevention of even small distinctions being discussed has made it muddier and harder for everyone else.
To be clear, I think my questions are entirely too “rationalizing a deep emotional and person thing” so I don’t really expect an answer, I’ve just never been invited to address the question to anyone before.
Devil: There are RULES, we had an AGREEMENT. I can’t just lie about those!
Demon: Sure you can!
The two get into a fight in the Sigil tavern. Harmonium soldiers come in to detain them, a fight ensues, both are slain.. . . Eternal blood war continues unperturbed
Remember everyone, doppelgangers can read minds, including the minds of someone they capture before killing. So learning to act like you convincingly is more a function of time, and the fine details of manipulating your friends is then reinforced by reading their minds. Their biggest hangup is probably how lazy and selfish they are. They know what you’d do, they know how convincing their acting job is on your friends, and they may have even watched you, but they still aren’t all that motivated to do it all the time. And I mean, hey, if they get caught then they just kill the person who confronts them if they can and run if they can’t.
But yeah, a doppelganger would never pick Konsi to imitate for very long. She works too hard.
Okay, chad faced joke aside (which is what I was going for there and couldn’t undercut it with =P) I do prefer more simulation based ruleset which sortof demands that at least some basic rules of physics are able to be mapped between reality and the gamestate. Abstractions can exist, and explanations can be provided (like the idea of a potion only being a mouthful/shot in quantity and/or size), but strain of an increasingly divorced rulest from the actual narrative is always a problem and should be avoided, imo.
Looking at some Pathfinder 2e stuff, you could maybe use a dimension. The Sphere of Annihilation doesn’t really annihilate you, it forces you to a different contiguous dimension with strange physics and alien creatures/growths. Off the top of my head my idea is something like:
1 - A world of boney growths that work like a cross between coral and fungus, with microorganisms spread as sporelike beings (that can grow in the players). The other dangers are lack of normal weather, clean water resources, and giant insecticide creatures (predators and prey) living on, what’s revealed to be a ball of rotting flesh and impacted bone. A literal world made of the the banished and slain by the Orb.
2 - The world is littered with the discarded possession of the dead, lost scrolls rotten by strange conditions, weapons rusted or eaten by the inhabitants, and fragmented journals and maps carved into chitin and bone that direct newcomers towards brutal settlements of inbred survivor clans. (Your choice if they’re hostile, creepy, friendly, or any insane mix of the 3, but they should probably be powerful to survive)
3 - Magic is wild here, gravity strange and inconsistent (and tiring to continuously fly in for non-native creatures)
4 - They can catch glimpses through to the real world by painting the inside of skulls from their world with the blood of insect monsters and staring through its eyes (forehead to forehead). (They can see their friends journeys if you want, or maybe just random glimpses of whatever plane/setting is closest)
Then have one group be on a survival journey in an alien world and the other a “how do we get them out” journey. You could maybe even imply the lich could know, complicate the issue by requiring them to confront him once without the phylactery (or with it as a bargaining chip) for information.
As for the Grim Reaper? You could use him as an example of the dangers of the place. Have him do something (cut through some of the dangerous coral-fungus to get to a player or something) and merc him on the spot as a warning. You don’t need to necesarily take it easy on the party from there, but really put the fear into them that this place should not be messed with (and maybe make them afraid that their friends are trying to save them).
And for the character who cast Planar Anchor? Maybe kill him? Send his body, dead, to the alternate dimension but his ghostly soul stays with the other group. Until he’s resurrected have him be able to occasionally hear the surviving players in the alternate dimension.
Not sure how much customization on the alternate world monsters you’d want to do, maybe just use regular giant bugs with far realms templates or something (not sure all what Pathfinder 2e has) but you could give the remains of them extremely weird powers that might later come in handy. (Like strange multi-planar scent based stuff which could be useful in tracking down the phylactery later, just in case they do trade it). Although you could also imply that they could be importing an infection coral-fungus thing into their real dimension.
This is not a criticism - I love how much attention this game has been getting. I’m just not understanding why BG3 has been blowing up so much. It seems like BG3 is getting more attention than all of Larian’s previous games combined (and maybe all of Obsidian’s recent crpgs as well). Traditionally crpgs have not lit the...
On top of some of the commentary here, I’d like to add that I think there’s a real chance that WoTC’s put some money behind getting it heavily reviewed/boosted, and so more articles about it and wider attention. That is not to undercut its quality, just that I think its layers of support. (I’ll admit there’s more than a little bit of my distrust of WoTC in that. Like after all their other scandals they need a win to try and suck newbies into the game after so much messing up. And I don’t even mean in the last year or something, their release quality for 5e has been abysmal for a long time.)
Additionally Larian played the early access thing very well. Not only did they listen to their ongoing players, and even netted some “tried it didn’t like it” people back, it gave time for everyone who was perhaps too into the older isometric BG1&2 titles (like me) to realize the game didn’t seem quite like it was for them and not pick it up. So you get clear, mostly good(if outdated) information out there for people to use in researching if they wanted to buy it, helping to avoid a lot of the knee-jerk hate that stuff like Fallout 4 and 76 got from misplaced expectations that could dull the release.
There also seems to be a bit of weirdness even surrounding what “conservative” means. It used to mean an intent toward preservation of certain existing institutions/trends and preexisting stability, with a distrust for new institutions that may upset existing social calm. Which often is at odds with beneficial change but isn’t inherently against it, favoring instead that it be slow and precise. When I think of myself as conservative that’s the concept I have.
The problem is that “conservative” now can also include a group of people for which preserving an existing state (as in condition/mode of being ) is no longer acceptable, the demand either a reverse or entirely new directions.
As an example that’s a little less hot button - vouchers for private schools. That’s an active novelty and a change from an existing institution, rife with potential long-term impacts on both culture and stability that could be negative, and yet some positions push for it (often without addressing those problems). That’s not a conservative position. That’s a progressive one (maybe not in the direction someone on the left would want obviously).
Conservative got irrevocably linked with Right due to some preexisting social constructs and the urge to preserve them, but realistically it should hold just as well that a conservative would seek to preserve left-wing establishments as much as right-wing ones, or at least advise any changes to them be slow and incremental to avoid pop-up problems. Admittedly things like technology complicate that due to the speed with which it changes and demands response.
I adore Minsc but feel like WoTC has started flooding him into stuff once they realized that he was popular. He’s in a comic, in Magic the gathering now, and I think even showed up in modules and games. Their involvement in any of this has made me trepidatious, tbh. It sounds like Larian may have made a good game despite them. (I have my own nitpicks there but I’m a very inflexible and nostalgic person, so that’s to be expected.)
Been meaning to do this to my players (startrek.website)
Oh cool, a sword of detect evil (startrek.website)
Wild magic go bonk (ttrpg.network)
"how good are you?" (lemmy.world)
What came first, the programmer or the code? (lemmy.world)
You know what? I'd allow it (lemmy.world)
I cannot stand dealing with litter no matter what I do
first off, i live in a small apartment. bed, bath, kitchen, living. there’s no great place to put it in the first place [it’s in the bathroom rn]...
tomorrow is monday (lemmy.world)
Even Shar has nothing against the power of agriculture (Seriously though: these are the top 3 FR gods in terms of RAW power) (ttrpg.network)
yelly cat problems (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
hey cat community! I have some vocal-cat behavioural problems I was wondering if you all could crack....
Smites with a frying pan (ttrpg.network)
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Hot Take: 5e is too bloated with unnecessary rules and should be simplified (ttrpg.network)
I recommend this video to look more into OSR philosophy regarding the rules: www.youtube.com/live/bCxZ3TivVUM?si=aZ-y2U_AVjn9a…
Hasn't happened yet (lemmy.sdf.org)
NSFW: I am a trans girl who is drunk and high at the same time, AMA!
Give me your worst, Lemmy! Absolutely nothing is off limits. Let’s get fucking weird!...
[meme] Las Vegas Loop -- expectations vs reality (lemmy.world)
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A matter of perspective. (comicpress.socksandpuppets.com)
No need for further tests.
Kinda hard to stay realistic when literal magic exists, no? (ttrpg.network)
The Sphere of Annihilation (of the party)
Hello all,...
What is up with Baldur's Gate 3?
This is not a criticism - I love how much attention this game has been getting. I’m just not understanding why BG3 has been blowing up so much. It seems like BG3 is getting more attention than all of Larian’s previous games combined (and maybe all of Obsidian’s recent crpgs as well). Traditionally crpgs have not lit the...
Why are Black rappers aligning themselves with the right? | Tayo Bero (www.theguardian.com)
Baldur's Gate 3 is defying game industry trend-chasers — and is being rewarded for doing so (www.windowscentral.com)
The more annoying aspects of modern gaming are completely absent in Baldur's Gate 3.
Be the NATO they fear you are