Sand

I am more concerned with the long term, then any short term gains. I would love for the US government to focus on Afganistan, but Bushie tied the majority of our resources in Iraq. We have a two front war here, Walsh. We need to focus on one over the other, and I really rather we focus on Afganistan over Iraq but that is not part of the Neo-Con agenda.

How am I against the advancement we have made since the 1800's? That doesn't make any sense. I am all for changing the laws of our country to make things more equitable for immigrants and all for implementing a guest worker system that s fair to both the foreign employee and employer. I am just against amnesty for those who have broken our current laws.

See what happens when you have faith.

Why would I need to? Our group uses the weighted point buy system, max HP for the first 3 levels, then half the hit die thereafter, and most of my spells don't have to hit rolls. Also if I hit, I hit, if I miss I miss. I am not the primary fighter, and not even the primary archer. I am the academic craftsman which most of the time I take ten on skill checks, take 20 when I can. I don't need to fudge dice rolls because I hardly ever roll a die.

I guess we just have to agree to disagree. In my experience in my gaming group we don't need our hands held like this. I guess our playing style doesn't need the kidgloves on, while in other gaming groups do. I am not saying yours or Gromnir's need to have the DM or the rules pull punches, it doesn't matter which I guess, but mine definitely does not. In our current campaign, set in Eberron, our group on average have just reach 3rd level and we are in the Mournlands, which natural healing does not occur and cure light wounds and the like fail to work, and we are having a blast and no punches being pulled or the kidgloves on. I will completely and totally disagree with the need to cheat or hold back, as well as arbitrarly inflate the hit points of low level characters. If you know your character's capabilities and weaknesses they just are not needed.

WRONG. A kobold, which is a small creature, with a spear sized for him does 1d6 points of damage. With his 9 Strength, he does a total damage of 1d6-1 (x3 critical), or 1 to 5 points of damage, doing the average of 2 points of damage in a single hit. On a critical, that kobold would do at minimum 2 points of damage with a maximum of 17, with an average 8 points of damage. On average that would drop, but not kill a 1st level Wizard. However, a 1st level fighter witha 14 Constitution would only be down, unconscious and not dead, if the kobold's hit did more than average in damage, otherwise the 1st level fighter would still be standing ready to kill the uppity kobold. Stop spouting lies. I have DMed 3e and 3.5e since it came out and I have never cheated on die rolls regardless of level. The same with our group's current DM. Cheating cheapens the game and cheapens the fun. You may need to have the DM cheat for you, but that is not the case in our group. Keep your generalities to yourself and your gaming group.

That's not bad at all, Mkreku. Just two to three points higher than my score from that test, though I don't really put much stock in Mensa/IQ tests. I tend to pick answers at random. Sometimes I get over 200, other times down in the 70s. It all depends on my whims.

Which do you prefer? Sucky or... SAKI!

I can. Grrrr...

*pounces on Laozi and shoves a truckload of walnuts down his throat* Have walnut, make peace!

That is not, Chris. If we add in all my posts from my varioous alts here I think I might be around 20,000.

Gee, I hope they don't roll a nat 1.

You either treat all people the same or you discriminate or give favor to one group over another. The law is there for everyone to obey, to treat everyone equally. You can't have one law okay to break then have another law not okay to break. You can't just pick and choose which law to obey and which law not to obey. That is not how it works.

Not a kobold. Should have kept with the Goblin. Kobold's Strength penalty drops the damage just a bit. Of course in your gaming group the DM may need to cheat but that is often because the players are being stupid.

Hey, at least I don't believe we should shoot illegal immigrants on sight.

Again, I disagree. The law is important. They broke the law, therefore they should face the consequence and if they feel animosity towards us because they broke the law and we are enforcing our laws then to bad for them.

Insta-kill? You are just being idiotic, Gromnir. Okay, lets say you have a Wizard with 4 hit points and a goblin with a spear. A goblin is a small creature with a Strength of 11. So, the maximum damage a small goblin can do with the basic spear with a 5% chance of critically is 18 hit points. Now that is indeed a insta kill but a Wizard would not to go into melee if he or she didn't have the right protection spells up and the chances of a goblin critical hitting and doing maximum damage. Doing average damage, that being 12 points, the Wizard would still be alive, but unconscious or bleeding to death with enough time for his or her companions to staunch the wound. Again, adventuring is DANGEROUS. The DM in our group does not cheat. In fact he can be downright viscious, as he should be. The party as a whole do not go into melee all that much. Instead we use range weapons, and guerrila tactics against our foes. Hit and fade attacks, harrassing the enemies, picking off weaker targets first, and that sort of thing. Its called USING STRATEGY! In fact in one encounter we had a elemental driven cart that kept us exactly 100 feet away from a corpse crab, a powerful beastie that would have easily killed us if we went into melee. We had bows and crossbows and we took it down, with only 3 of us taking hits from poison barbs, and only one of us actually succumbed to the poison, taking damage to his Dexterity. Yes, in every other encounter or so one of the PCs goes down, bleeding or unconscious and we do the responsible thing and caste a quick cure minor, or do a heal check. Nearly everyone in the group has at least one rank in Heal, my wizard has 2. This keeps people from dying, in case you don't know. it seems to me that you guys just want to get rid of the danger, to have your adventurers be a bunch of pansies. Where is the fun in that?

Well, being 1st level wizard in the current campaign I am in I often went into melee. At that low of level having a +0 BAB is not that big of a deal and with having both Shield and Mage Armor up I had the best AC in the party at 20. So my 6 hit point AC 20 Wizard moves into flank against a Warforged Barbarin and bashed in its chest cavity with his quarterstaff is just a random roll of the die. It could have meant the end of my character if I missed and the warforged barbarian criticalled with her (female personality) battle axe. That would be the end of my wizard, and I accept that. That is the danger of being an adventurer. If you cannot accept the possibility of death of your character then you shouldn't be playing the game. Adventurers die, messily. Just make a new character and stop whining.

I disagree, Tigger. Why should I trust someone who is willing and has broken the law? Why shouldn't I feel a bit of animosity and contempt for those who show no respect for the laws of my country? Don't get me wrong, I am all for immigration and cultural diversity, as long as no laws are broken. Yes, I also agree that the laws need to be changed and we due have a procedure to change our laws but until those laws are changed the one's we have now should be strictly enforced. Just because you don't like a law does not give you the right to break it without consequence.

If you play smart any class is viable at 1st level, but for inexperienced players I always suggest playing fighter. They are straight forward and easiest to get the game mechanics down. However, keeping the kidgloves on permanently does no one any good, and ultimately not fun. If there is no chance for failure, no chance for death, then what is the point of succeeding?

If you give amnesty to those who break the law you only encourage others to continue to break the law.

Gee, who would have guessed adventuring being... DANGEROUS!

I think that would be a kickarse spoof ad.

That is still giving amnesty to criminals, Tigger, and that is unacceptable.

Well, any aid to Afganistan will have to wait til after Iraq. The US just do not have the resources and the Republicans and Bushie knows that. They just don't care.