AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

I actually think the focus on Intelligence is not because it's so difficult to define, but rather the opposite: it's way easier to put your finger on than Charisma or Wisdom, which are a complete mess starting from the very names of the abilities. It's only natural that we're more interested in role-playing the mental abilities than the physical, which boil down pretty much to how hard you can punch, how easy it is for you to catch the flu, and how well you can backflip.

40 Str - Lift 2.9 tonnes over your head
40 Con - Hold your breath underwater for 8 minutes while fighting, or run at 6 m/s for 8 minutes
40 Dex - You natural walk is quieter than people talking 45 metres away
40 Int - Outsmart a Great Wyrm Gold Dragon. Be superhuman-good at 15 things. Need I say more?
40 Wis - Make the Dalai Lama appear to have the enlightenment of a field mouse in comparison. Less, actually - the difference between the Dalai Lama and a field mouse is about the same as between that of the Dalai Lama and a Great Wyrm Gold Dragon. Did I mention you have more insight than those, too?
40 Cha - Look hotter than the sun (or a succubus) and have the leadership qualities that make Hitler & Stalin's Cult of Personalities look like bad fanboy groups

Last edited by Greyweaver on Sun, Nov 21 2010, 4:49 AM, edited 1 time in total.

Logicality wrote:

Also, what's with this autism thing? Not all genii are autistic. And certainly nobody in the D&D universe that becomes a genius would become autistic. ...That's not really something you can "get", like a disease. :roll:

Like I'm a doctor! :roll:

lol I was just giving an example of rp you could do perhaps bordering on the behavior of Autism would be more along the lines of what I was talking about. At any rate it might be fun to rp a mage that will only wear one hat in certain building and if he forgets that hat he -won't- go into that building, or slippers instead of a hat lol hell maybe he believes firmly he can't cast a certain spell during a certain time or will face dire consequences. You might stop and consider where the term "crazy mage" comes from, maybe there intelligence is so high they can't relate to reality like a person of normal intelligence does. Maybe one to many lighting bolt spells fried some nerves in the brain. :lol:

I wasn't aiming for science and trying to sound like some doctor or shrink, which I'm not lol, it was geared and focused on rp.

Back to topic, Epic Characters are "Near God-like" according to Hordes of the Underdark online manual. I'm sure it's states the same in the gold, platinum or diamond edition too. Our characters -are- Elminster, D'rizzt, Shandril(Spellfire) Tanis Halfelven(Dragonlance) the Epic Heroes and Epic Sinister Villains of Amia. Ask any Farmer about, Yaston, Neveah, sure some are better than the other ones, but to a farmer or miner or your average citizen, barmaids and the like, they are considered Heroes of renknowned and the stuff of legends. Some darker villians might even have certain times of night named after them like the "Dark Hour" when One-Eye(Vaylek) owns the shadows and best not be out at this time, lol because you -don't- want to be caught by him at night in certain areas of south Cordor. Some Heroes would laugh at the normal citizens for saying that, but to them he would be death in the shadows the stuff nightmares are made of.

At least thats my spin on it.

(thought I'd give a color change so it's not so hard on the eyes

)

Every magician should have an obsession.

Try filling out a D&D character sheet with your own IRL skills, attributes and class/es. Not an easy task. Especially if you are doing it with another person. Very fun to debate each others attributes though. Pick someone you are familiar with and go at it.

Back on topic.

I've never noticed or heard of troubles regarding the superhuman abilities of characters. If you are pinned under a tree, the uber warrior will most likely be able to remove it, perhaps only with some help from others. My point is that people usually are rather subtle about their powers. I think that even though you have superhuman abilities, a person playing the character always regards it from an IRL and logic point of view (if possible), before acting as the character. My wiz with 40 int.. I can't possibly rp something like that.. EVER. I can sling spells though, which does count for something in terms of convincing other pcs.

Hard to say how to handle it (I'm a pisspoor rp'er btw, so you might want to ignore this). If you have insane stats, try imagining the smartest, strongest, wisest etc person in the world you know, or think it might be, and multiply it by 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 (in that area) depending on the stats of your character.

Have yet to see a barbarian go: "Look at me! I can tear down the Bendir mill without breaking a sweat!".

Epic abilities are ok. Epic skills are where it's at.

My former main PC is currently utilizing his epic Perform skill to write the story of Amia, reaching through the fourth wall to his player, inspiring in the player's mind a narrative, a series of challenges, a world design, plot and characters and dialogue and theme and motif, so that everything he writes with his epic Perform skill is actually coming true in Amia through the intervention of his DM-player, up to and including him being absent from the drama as much as the author is absent from the drama, for no rational rhyme or reason save authorial intent.

That... is pretty damn epic.

So that's why Yoss disappeared... Explains a lot. >_>

what I do hate that when those epic levels roll a skill check of 34 (tumble, for example) then they fail miserably... like trip and fall.

Last edited by IronAngel on Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:38 AM, edited 1 time in total.

Why would they fail? Rolling a 1 on a skill check is not automatic failure. You're not even supposed to roll for standard tasks in a non-stressful situation. That's what Take 20 or Take 10 is for.

IronAngel wrote:

Why would they fail? Rolling a 1 one a skill check is not automatic failure. You're not even supposed to roll for standard tasks in a non-stressful situation. That's what Take 20 or Take 10 is for.

yep

what Iron said lol

tell that to the "failing epics"

Yossarin wrote:

Epic abilities are ok. Epic skills are where it's at.

My former main PC is currently utilizing his epic Perform skill to write the story of Amia, reaching through the fourth wall to his player, inspiring in the player's mind a narrative, a series of challenges, a world design, plot and characters and dialogue and theme and motif, so that everything he writes with his epic Perform skill is actually coming true in Amia through the intervention of his DM-player, up to and including him being absent from the drama as much as the author is absent from the drama, for no rational rhyme or reason save authorial intent.

If I were to define "Epic", Yoss. I would have to use this as my definition. I think... I have a man crush on you now.

I define epic as any ability in NwN that I get the itch to nerf the shit out of. I treat them as such.

I also don't differentiate between broken mechanics and cheesey builds and people with bluff/persuade skills over 100.

Basically my job would be easier if you were all level 1 fighters, but far more fun when your all level 30.

MoshingChris wrote:

Basically my job would be easier if you were all level 1 fighters, but far more fun when your all level 30.

lol soo much easier to DM low level characters

Orcs, Gnolls and Bugbears ftw! but yeah not near as fun.

Yossarin wrote:

Epic abilities are ok. Epic skills are where it's at.

My former main PC is currently utilizing his epic Perform skill to write the story of Amia, reaching through the fourth wall to his player, inspiring in the player's mind a narrative, a series of challenges, a world design, plot and characters and dialogue and theme and motif, so that everything he writes with his epic Perform skill is actually coming true in Amia through the intervention of his DM-player, up to and including him being absent from the drama as much as the author is absent from the drama, for no rational rhyme or reason save authorial intent.

Imagine all the copyright laws yos is breaking!

The Epic Fighter Feat wrote:

Having advanced from the ranks of seasoned warriors, the epic fighter is the true master of warfare. More than a mere sword-swinger, the epic fighter knows how to defeat his opponents in any arena. Though his journey to achieve this goal has been long and hard, the epic fighter is just starting out on another path - a fledgling in the realm of gods and other powerful beings.

This is talking about Marcus Heusen, who was once running around in his ugly studded leather armour with a shortsword and killing rats for 10 XP and a couple of coins. It seems sensible that a physical stat will only affect your appearance so far; it'd be silly (yet highly amusing) to have 30 strength and look like the Hulk on steroids. It also makes sense that mental statistics only carry your non-mechanical skills so far, more because the player may not feel they are able to convincingly roleplay an absolute genius or fully enlightened character.

This is why I don't like getting extra points for my prime attributes every few levels. In the old days, you'd roll up your six stats (and none of this "point buy" crap that makes all characters exactly the same) and then, barring really exceptional circumstances, your stats would remain the same for the life of your character. That's how it should be.

Point buy doesn't make characters the same anymore than rolling the stats

And face it, if dicerolling was NWN, I would hammer "reroll" until I got a superior amount of 18's. And at the table, there's alwyas That Guy who rolls really well and That Guy who rolls terribly and it inevitably causes friction. Point Buy is truly superior.

Bjorn wrote:

Sooo... I did some calculations today... apparently, character with 32 strength can easily push or pull about 8000 lbs or around 4 tonnes of item or creature, or lift around 1800 lbs, around 800kg over head, double of that off the floor. How is one supposed to cope with such in terms of roleplay and simple every day things? Are our characters used to strength enough not to dunno shatter bottle they are drinking from, or sending people you handshake into shock due limb loss?

Also same would mean character would easily be able to bring down gates of an poorer fortifications down without any problem.

Basically some deities have less strength or about same as that.

Also, how exactly would one treat character with same amount of intelligence or dexterity?

I wonder since numbers are more or less staggering.

In essence, you become this:

I've always wanted to play a pegasos! *budum tssh*

Epic abilites... and how to treat them?

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