Miscellaneous Links on attack vector, sir!

d20 statblocks for Summon Monster critters

Le Maupin, 17th century adventuress

Mod Buttons, custom 1" buttons

Traveller ship size comparison charts

Berthier minis campaign manager software

Things I've Learned In Alidor

Last night was another session of Jon's World of Alidor campaign. I learned that the city of Port Headland hosts the Island of Jelling's longest-running annual flower show. The group also discovered that the newly dead do not rest quietly near the Ruins of Brunarn. We learned that if you have to choose between dealing with gnomes or dwarves, go dwarf every time. The gnomes will want everything documented, in triplicate. Finally, I learned that you need to keep your identity papers handy if you want to tromp through civilized lands wearing armor and weapons.

A weird time was had by all.

Classic Traveller contest

Dan "far-trader" Burns is organizing a nifty little contest over at the Citizens of the Imperium message boards. The challenge is to design a Jump-2 merchant vessel capable of making a profit working the Querion subsector of the Spinward Marches, using the starship design sequence for Book 2: Starships. More details available at this thread: Merchants Run.

Fight the Man!

Looks like thos jackanapes in the big telecoms are trying to screw up the internet again. Since this isn't a political blog I'll let interested parties click the above image to get the details.

New D&D House Rule, effective immediately

Inspired by a thread on the EN World forums, I have decided to get some use out of my beloved d30.

Once per session each person at the table (DM included) may roll a d30 instead of whatever die or dice the situation normally warrants. The decision to use the d30 must be made before the roll. If used for an attack roll, the threat range is extended from the normal range through to 30.

Why do we need this rule? We don't. I'm simply a mad-with-power house-rulin' fool!

Ladies and gentlemen... The Freak

The Freak originated during an early, anything-goes phase of my current D&D campaign. He was my buddy Pat's attempt to make a PC that was immune to hit point damage. And he was pretty successful at it, too. The version below is not Pat's grand vision, but rather my attempt to recreate the Freak on a more sound, SRD-based footing. I may make use of him as an NPC at some point. As usual, I did not take updating the skills seriously.

FREAK
(HALF-DRAGON (black) HALF-FIEND TROLL)
Large dragon
Hit Dice: 6d10+50 (83 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), Fly 60ft (12 squares), average maneuverability
Armor Class: 23 (–1 size, +4 Dex, +10 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+20
Attack: Claw +15melee (1d6+12)
Full Attack: 2 claws +15melee (1d6+12) and bite +10 melee (1d8+8)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rend 2d6+15
Special Qualities: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, regeneration 5, scent, Immunity to poison, acid, sleep, and paralysis, Resistance to cold 10, electricity 10, and fire 10, Damage reduction: 5/magic, Spell Resistance 16
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 35, Dex 18, Con 27, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +6, Spot +7
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Track
Environment: Cold mountains or Warm marshes
Organization: Solitary or gang (2–4)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +12?

Speaks Common, Giant, Draconic, Abyssal.
COMBAT
Freaks have no fear of death: They launch themselves into combat without hesitation, flailing wildly at the closest opponent. Even when confronted with fire, they try to get around the flames and attack.
Rend (Ex): If a freak hits with both claw attacks, it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d6+15 points of damage.
Regeneration (Ex): Fire deals normal damage to a freak. If a freak loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The creature can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day the creature can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good foe
Spell-like abilities - Darkness 3/day, Desecrate 1/day, Unholy blight 1/day, caster level = HD, Cha-based
Breath Weapon – 60 ft. line of acid. 6d8 damage 1/day. DC 21 reflex save for half.
A freak’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

RPG Pundit on stunting

I wanted to highlight this passage from the Pistols at Dawn extravaganza:

I've seen gamers try to create OtE characters where they pick a trait that is so broad it can apply to everything ("I have 4D in martial arts master/acrobat/strategist"), or take supposedly narrow traits and try to make them fit any situation ("I can use my 5D Football Champ trait to attack the thugs, right? Using my football training... oh, AND i can use my 5D football champ trait to beat the Chessmaster, because football has strategy that can also apply to chess").

To me, this is "Faking it". It creates situations where, by trying to encourage "roleplay" by giving positive bonuses to those who use their descriptors, it encourages people to try to stretch those descriptors to ridiculous limits.

Ditto with games that give bonuses for "descriptive stunting"; at that point every fucking action turns into a descriptive stunt ("I do a double backflip before sitting on the toilet to give me a +2D to taking a dump"; "I make an exaggerated courtsey when I meet Unimportant NPC x in case I have to get a bonus to my diplomacy check").

That's why Feng Shui has got it going on: there, you are ALLOWED to do any normal attack/action as a stunt, in a cool way and without penalty, as long as the end result not have a greater positive result than if you did it the normal way. For ex, instead of just saying "I run toward the guy and shoot him" you can say "I run three steps, jump onto the table sliding down off it shooting at the guy". Since the end result mechanically is the same ("Ok, roll to hit") there's no penalty for doing it acrobatically. Its "encouragement" in the sense of not fucking you over for giving your character a personal touch; rather than giving you a bonus for thinking up ways of dragging your personality into every little act.