SR V: To boldly go where no room has gone before

Anybody want to come play a round of golf with me this week?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/golf/tenday/USFL0072?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_golf

Keppa4v wrote: James wrote: Just the name Pekka makes me giggle.  Sorry, Pekka.  Glad I'm making someone happy by just being  I've been thinking about possibly changing my username to Pekka... I don't feel very much Keppa4v, but I'm pretty much a Pekka. edit #2: Argh, I've repeated that silly name enough to make myself giggle at it  Pekka, Pekka, Pekka... couldn't my parents come up with something that could be taken seriously? Well, if I was a girl, I'd be Liisa.

Well us Brits talk about the male member as "little pekkas" if they are on the small side.

Henry Plainview wrote: Sorry non-computer nerds, but James, is there really zero difference between a Dex of 6 and 14, or am I reading this chart wrong? And is high Char/Wis/Str an ok combination for a Paladin? I feel bad about neglecting my Int and Dex (Con is for pussies).

It's 2nd ed, so the 7-14 is pretty much identical in effect, OTOH, with a tome of manual dexterity in the game (+ a couple more boosts in TOB or SOA), if you're on 14, that should end up as a +1/2 bonus (with 15 and 16), while, if you're on 7, you can't so much afford to drop a point of dex at a certain point. So, in short, 8 to 12 is, for almost all intents and purposes, identical (except for thieves, who derive thievy skills from it. I presume bard pickpocket has the same thing). So, if you want to neglect dex, keep it at 8, probably (well, w. 7, you can up with the tome, lose later on, but that makes getting the tome more significant, which is always annoying).

Yes, Cha/Wis/Str is pretty good. Str for power, obviously (and while having a +1 rather than a +3 doesn't sound that important, it actually can effect a character's practicalness a lot), a good Wis should help Paladins more than it does (i.e. no bonus spells for you, and IIRC, saving throws are just by class in this system... I think 14+ is advisable (not sure if the 'your ability score -10 = highest spell level you can cast' is applicable here). I'm unsure whether Wis or Cha affects your 'turn undead'. As a Paladin, a Con of 17+ could actually be pretty useful. Having a high charisma helps a bit (store sales, rewards), so get that if you feel like it. OTOH, a Cha of less than 18 can be replaced in the 2nd game (whereas Cha 18 becomes Cha 19, so actually remains relevant).

There are items that can sub in helpfully for dex + str scores (and even cha in BG II, though starting with cha 18 is usually pretty useful in the stage of the game where you have money worries), but all of those take up slots which could probably be used for other things (belt of inertial barrier/girdle of piercing, bracers of weapon skill/bracers of archery, rings of protection/resistance/invisibility etc.).

Recently, on IWD, at least, I've gone for the random stats, re-roll if they're really bad, can freely swap one stat for one other (i.e. that Str 17, Dex 10, Con 10, Wis 17, Int 16, Cha 9 fighter can switch the dex for the wis/int or the con for wis/int, but not both), and an optional +1/-1. It's at least made me adapt my strategy to the party rather than the other variant (which is basically, everyone gets Con 16+ plus ridiculous in the stats they find useful and I breeze the game with a generic mob)... made for a bit of interest switching the fighters' roles according to stats and dualling that thief with the high Str score.

It annoys me how, just as soon as a Paladin picks up Carsomyr, they are much better than a Wizard Slayer at a Wizard Slayer's only reasonable application, without any of the drawbacks. That said, Wizard Slayers with the Dragon's Breath halberd rock minorly at killing some things (i.e. wizards, liches, which are otherwise a pain in the proverbial).

And yes, I've spent way too much time on these games. Also, Fighter/Wizards are quite fun, if odd, to play. Difficult to start with, get much easier later on. Decent Cleric/Wizards are more of an IWD thing.

So how many vowels have the Finnish stolen today, then? 

Paladins are rather powerful though and certainly are a good character to start.  I've never played one though.  Ever.

May mate played as one though but he was a n00b and didn't role-play and killed Drizzt Do'Urden which isn't really what a Paladin should be doing.


Edited by James - May 19 2009 at 15:41

James wrote: Paladins are rather powerful though and certainly are a good character to start.  I've never played one though.  Ever. May mate played as one though but he was a n00b and didn't role-play and killed Drizzt Do'Urden which isn't really what a Paladin should be doing.

He's drow. It's fine.

...

I don't think I've ever killed Drizz't. I might have pickpocketed him once. And then there was that time I basically vanished my party and let the vampires kill him a bit. Not sure he actually went down, though.

Edit: I played a cavalier through BG tutu 1ish once (before it messed up for me or I messed up. Can't be sure which. I assume that was mostly my old computer being berkish, though... it's worked fine the rest of the time). He was ridiculously good with boots of avoidance/girdle of piercing, ludicrous stats and immunities to poison/fear/etc plus resistances. + remove fear. Basically made him a draw-fire character most of the time.


Edited by TGM: Orb - May 19 2009 at 15:46

James wrote: Yes but he's Good alignment and a worshipper of Mielikki, not Lloth or Vhaeraun.  He's not a nasty drow, he's a goody-goody drow.

(I wasn't being entirely serious and was being slightly satyrical)

That's what they all say

Edit: and I'm going to retry Planescape as a hardline communist sometime. Because I can.


Edited by TGM: Orb - May 19 2009 at 15:48

rushfan4 wrote: Epignosis wrote: Anybody want to come play a round of golf with me this week? http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/golf/tenday/USFL0072?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_golf That is an odd forecast for the Sunshine State.  Actually, I am surprised that I am not already scheduled to be there.  It always rains when I come down to visit my parents.

It hasn't stopped since yesterday morning.

Yes but they're making the Anglo-Saxons look far less brutal.  They're not going around killing women and childing or raping and pillaging; for that matter.

I'm not saying they did that either (I've always preferred the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans anyway) but I'm sure they had their moments as well.

Addendum:

No, I never did get as far as the Underdark or rescuing Imoen, for that matter.  The side quests in Athkatla took all my time.


Edited by James - May 19 2009 at 16:01

Call me crazy, but I think Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts is actually a pretty neat track. It's like a skeletal story thing... he builds up a sharp introduction, events, conclusion and implies a pretty rich backstory and character for the whole thing pretty quickly. It sounds like the band have no idea of how long they're going to be playing, though, but then, one of his other best ones was made just like that.