Mapping The Cone

This is just a short post, to make a record of the cone graphic that I created, to illustrate the proper dimensions of a 150 foot long cone effect. It is drawn from the side, assuming an approach head-on vs. a large-sized creature, indicated by the circle.

OTTER Mage Armor and Shield Spell Variants

Since the last post centered around interpretations of shield spells, mage armor spells, and how they apply versus touch attacks, I decided to post the OTTER versions of these spells, for your edification. Feel free to leave a comment, and share your thoughts.

A Word About Shield Bonuses

The D20SRD Website defines a Shield Bonus as: “…A shield bonus improves Armor Class and is granted by a shield or by a spell or magic effect that mimics a shield. Shield bonuses stack with all other bonuses to AC except other shield bonuses. A magic shield typically grants an enhancement bonus to the shield’s shield bonus, which has the effect of increasing the shield’s overall bonus to AC. A shield bonus granted by a spell or magic item typically takes the form of an invisible, tangible field of force that protects the recipient. A shield bonus doesn’t apply against touch attacks.”

Help Me Beta Test: The Golem Master Prestige Class!

Hello Once Again!

It gives me great pleasure to present to you, my loyal readers, the first (beta, playtest) version of my Golem Master prestige class. I came up with the idea a few months back, and then started searching the internet for people who might have possibly had the same idea, and that had already implemented it.

My suspicion that it had been thought of before proved to be correct; there was a Golem Master prestige class that had been posted on ENWorld back in 2002 by Holly Cook. Although many of her ideas coincided with mine, my approach was slightly different from hers in its final form.

 

OTTER Update Three: Vital Statistics + Character Creation Methodology

Here we are again with another update; you may have noticed that this update includes the material (Vital Statistics) from the last update. That’s because I want my readers to have one file that will help them generate the core of their character quickly and easily. Thus, I combined the Vital Statistics file with the Character Creation file that I’ve been working on. I’ve actually been using this method in various 3.x campaigns that I have been running, and I find that it works quite well; I’m very happy with it. I hope that you will like it as well.

Help Me Beta Test: The Mystic Archer!

I’ve been working on prestige classes recently, and I decided to upgrade one of my favorite ones, the Arcane Archer. The initial prestige class as presented in the 3.x rules always left a little to be desired; I was playing around with that version, trying to weigh its flaws and merits, and making re-write after re-write of my improved version, when I suddenly realized that another gaming company had also made an improved version of the class. I looked at their version, which was made using the OGL, and decided to create a hybrid, between their version and mine. The result was quite gratifying; I have now crafted an Archer prestige class that should prove to be extremely entertaining to play.

An Example of How OTTER Adds Epic-Level Functionality To Non-Epic Spells

I was running my epic campaign the other day, and a player wanted to develop a spell that would allow him to simply touch a corpse, concentrate a little, and be able to see the last few minutes of its life. (Sort of like an “instant replay” kind of thing.)

Well, I informed him that such a spell already existed, in a third party book that I own called “Relics & Rituals.” The spell is known as “Dead Man’s Eyes,” and just as it is, it’s a great little spell. But the player wanted more functionality, so I modified the spell, to allow it to be used by (and therefore, prove useful to) an epic-level caster. At the same time, the spell retains its usefulness to lower level spellcasters as well; I made the spell scalable using caster level and Concentration checks. The better you are at casting spells, the better the spell works.

Improving Your RPG Experience Vol. II: Using LEGO Minifigs Instead of Miniatures

This weekend, I took a trip to Wal-Mart, and picked up a medium-sized Adidas duffle bag, and eight Flambeau Tuff-Tainers (tackleboxes,) in an effort to get my LEGO collection under control. You see, I have been ordering LEGO minifig parts from the “Pick-A-Brick” store, and building my own, quasi-custom, D&D-style minifigs, and outfitting them with third-party accessories from Brick Warriors. The result is that you end up with re-configurable miniatures, which are far more durable than their lead-based cousins, and which do not need to be painted, unless you’re just feeling the need to get super-customized. For my purposes, I use standard-sized LEGO minifigs on a 2×2 base. I Krazy Glue the feet (only) of the miniature to the base, which lends the figure greater stability when you’re configuring its accessories. Since I use a Plexiglas tac-map, with a standard Chessex vinyl map beneath it, these 2×2 bases work great, because they are slightly smaller than the 1-inch squares, and they stand perfectly still on the smooth Plexiglas surface. A LEGO minifig which is on a 2×2 base fits nicely into a Flambeau Tuff-Tainer, a single case which costs about $5.00, and will hold 12 figures. Eight of these containers comes to about 40 bucks, and fit nicely into a medium duffle bag, giving you a total of 96 figures that you can easily carry around. (Even fully loaded, the duffle bag is SUPER light.) The Adidas duffle bag that I bought was 30 bucks. So your total investment for storage and portability is around 70 bucks total, which in my mind, is well worth the price.

Improving Your RPG Experience Vol. I: Make A Tac-Map!

This post is a copy of a post I made to a Facebook roleplaying group I belong to. The permalink to the original post is HERE. But this post will expand upon it, and offer more photos. This post also partially duplicates a post I made on my other blog, which can be found by clicking right HERE. (I know, I know, I do a lot of cross-posting! Ha ha.)

What exactly is a “Tac-Map”? Well, the term “Tac-Map” is an abbreviation for a “Tactical Map,” which is the military term for the old, analog maps you see (in the old, WW2 movies) that are in the command center, and covered by a sheet of glass, upon which are laid small, plastic figures that the generals are pushing around with long rods, in order to show current troop placement and movements. Sound eerily familiar?