Farbautisonn

Not necessarily, a paladin to me is just a knight with a code (and maybe some divine magic) but not necessarily a good one. In Ad&d paladin's get all these abilities that center around them being incredibly good and morally just so it makes sense that they can only be CG but it still kind of sucks. Problems with codes is that they arent really interesting unless they are challenged. And if they are challenged and there is no consequence to faltering, then the code means nothing... Then you might as well just be a LG Warrior. I undestand completely here, and I even agree to a great extent. Morality and ethics isnt a constant or an absolute. Agree absolutely. And no, religious zealots or people who adher to any code that condones a warrior priest class philosophy havent usually been "good". Bushido for instance, was "perverted"/"Overdone" during ww2... and I suppose that historical paladins have more in common with the Japanese bushido than a typical "warrior/soldier" class. Hell, Waffen SS, Hezbollah, and other units have almost exclusively been morally lacking in the current western sense. .This would indeed be an interesting concept and I would concur that it would be a valuable addition to a game to have a more historically apt interpretation of the name "paladin". However in the traditional RPG sense a Paladin is a religious zealot in the service of a given faith, good or bad. And they are punished for lacking in an inescapeable sense. By their gods. IF we have to take that aspect away then making the paladin accountable and testable to his faith or credo in some other way. An interesting way could be the way de Bois Guilbert (Sam Neill) is tested in "Ivanhoe". Wouldnt mind seeing that. But if their faith and credo isnt tested, and if there is no really special benefit to the term "paladin". Then you are just another warrior.

Your ignorance is as staggering as your inability to type or write coherent english. No mean feat considering you're supposedly speaking your "own" language...

Really? How many Native american customs and traditions, sociocultural and economic structures do you retain? I dont really see the "lol" part... but Ill humour you. Your entire heritage, social structure (family, language(s), religion, culture, traditions of learning and living etc) is derived from European tradition. Not from native americans living in teepees or living in Igloos. Your culture isnt Identical to the European tradition either, but then European culture is vastly differentiated from north to south. Even in an area with a cultural and sociological tradition as close as that of scandinavia, traditions differ quite significantly in certain aspects.

Disagree. Requires planning, sure, but if you end up in a situation where you really *need* a certain spell you have usually been given clues to it, if your DM is decent. You dont fully load up on fireballs if youre going to be crawling in a dungeon where you're searching for a lich, nor do you load up finger of death if you're defending a village from a horde of goblins en route.

Lol'd at this IRL. Danke :D.

Problem with taxing your way out of this is that the structures that are the cause of the deficit wont go away. And if Obama place a burden that is percieved to be "too high" on the "rich bastards" (which he more or less made Romney the figurehead of) they will consider relocation of themselves their fortunes and their companies. Or hire more firce accountants and taxlawyers. In which case you get **** all. Also making the "Romneys" of the US the "big and bad" is a bit contradictory to what the Euros and our flexicurity systems percieve as the "American Dream". Prolly is to alot of americans too. And besides Obama now needs them to firstly create jobs and he needs them to listen to him in Congress. He will need to compromise and compromise doesnt really come easy to Obama. I think alot of people will agree on that. And hen we havent even touched upon the fact that the Romney wing was the "compromising/flipflop" wing. They got a beating. The republicans might not be very willing to compromise either. Also in Europe Obama will cut back on the US involvement in NATO and will likely cut back on military aid / spending (which is jobs), either because he is forced or because its nessesictated by popular demand to the fledgeling democracies in the mid east. Cutting back on US involvement in Nato wont win him many friends in the EU either. Especially now with a profilation of the Syrian conflict lurking around the corner. If he has to cut loose Clinton he will have lost a near invaluable forigen secretary too. Plus... If Iran gets nukes in the next four years, which I and a few other analysts percieve as highly likely, that generates a whole new ballgame that has both economical and political ramafications up the kazoo. If a Euro nation decideds to cut loose from the Euro (which I also percieve as highly likely) then that will generate a cascade of problems for the Eurozone, which will also have economic fallout in the US. In short, Obama has a metric ton of proving himself to do and only four years to do it. And things really have to roll his way (no more hurricane expenditures or natural disasters of any epic sort, even if they do generate jobs, they do cripple the economy locally). As for poking fun of romney being unimployed... the guy is a multi millionaire in dollers and an exgovernor. He isnt going to be unimployed long. Though he will likely need a vacation... hopefully in Vegas where he can spend some money at Wynn or Trumps places... after all, vegas did take a hit after Obama was a bit... oversimplyfying for vacations and conferances to vegas.

The fun bit was when the player later complained that nothing was happening Oh I've had that guy in a game I hate that guy the guy that spends half the time trying to distract players with random bull**** then complaining that the story is going to slow I think everyone has had that guy. He is the same guy who goes over the pockets of every corpse on a battlefield looking for coins and "artifacts".

Well, personally I rather liked FO3 ( /duck). It wasnt optimal and I sometimes cringed at the lore and insetting conversion to gamemechanics, but it could have been alot worse. It could have been ME3. The storywriting bit I have higher hopes for than when I first saw FO3. First of all, the best DLC in the series was made by Bethsoft (The Pitt beats everything, even the NV DLC), and Bethesda prolly looked over the shoulder of Obsidian when they did NV and realized that a harder focus on storytelling would be a preferable Idea. Id love for Obsidian to be coproducing the game or for Obsidian to do a standalone game again, but Im not desperately worried about FO4.

"True Freedom" is a logical fallacy. There exists no such thing, especially in a CRPG where your every move is scripted and has to fall into certain parameters even in the best games and even in your Pen and Paper Games you are barred from certain actions by lore and ingame mechanics. Thats just the way it is. I was fine with the prescripted backgrounds in DA:O. They made for interesting storytelling, which is one of the primary reasons I got into RPG's in the first place.

A paladin who has moral/ethical/ethos freedom isnt a paladin. He is a warrior/cleric hybrid. So multiclass. If we are to have paladins I prefer the holier than thou, morally and ethically narrowminded kind. At least I can see those comming a mile away.

Nah. The "trilogy" and indeed the franchise was ruined with ME3 to the point where I took it upon myself to kill off the storyline and the later inane spin in my Bioware blogs.

I was aiming for Szass Tam or Sememom. Morrigan is a bit too hamfisted and obvious. .

As long as I can manipulate the Paladin into giving his life up for a foolhearted crusade or a vain cause, Im fine with the occasional paladin.

Nice. This turned into a nationality pissing contest. Complete with ad hitlerums, logical fallacies galore, glaring lack of political insight, historical knowledge, and finally splattered with generous sprinkles of prejudice. The jews did it.

Farbautisonn casts, "Stache of entanglement". Effects: Facial hairs grows ten yards immediately causing person to fall in his / her own facial hair. Also causes a +2 cha reaction to other men and a +4 reaction to sheep.

1) Ill agree to the above. If I get that imba über spell of doom that mage "x" used to lay waste an entire army in the lore, then I want it to lay waste to an entire army. I want it to destroy maim and kill. I dont care how hard it is to research or create, or if it takes flawless "River" diamonds to cast. I want it. 2) Spell animations. I know Im likely a minority here but I loved the PS:T animations. If there is time to make an animation for the highest level spells Id fellate to it (sorry for the mental image). Have it as an option at least Prz. 3) Give me spells that might seem redundant or spells that I can research for specific NPCs, good or nefarious purposes. The stronghold spell of "blessings of the hamster" that causes all plantlife to grow twice as fast which means I can get twice the crops, or "Swamp of no hope" where I turn the entire surrounding area into a deathtrap for any invading army (also destroying the peasents and other rabbles homes).

Well... naming your toon Raistlin, Drizzt or Aragorn should make your toon instantly die upon entering the game. Preferably assulted and raped by a huge rat.

Perhaps in an ethical and moral sense, but in a sense of Realpoliik... not really. Especially if you do not want to bring about change by force IE like Iraq. Furthermore the "ethical and moral sense" is one that is western... and basically another form of cultural imperialism. An imperialism where we in the west try to impose our values and norms on the third world. Here life means everything. In the third world a buffalo means more than the life of a single person. Because that buffalo can provide food and labour for a familiy of five. A person cannot. Africa is corrupt. Infact most of the third world is. Hell southern Europe is corrupt. Mugabe is a prime example yes but he is certainly not the only one or the worst example in africa. Its a continent teeming with examples of corrupt dictatorships. We have to accept some corruption because sociocultural norms and narratives does not change over night. Hell it doesnt change over a couple of generations. Some places it never changes at all. Dictatorships take all forms and shapes. I dont think so. Assad and Syria isnt Libya. The Syrian armed forces are relatively high tech with access to high end russian AA artillery for instance. A campain in Syria would cost the lives of pilots and cause them to be paraded on television. Assad allso has B/C (biological and chemical) waragents. He wouldnt hesitate to let them loose if we intervened. I dont think the west has any particular interest in intervening in Syria. We have an interest in cutting off Syria from Iran, but as we have seen in other fledgeling states, democracy usually ends up with more or less islamic parties taking the lions share of the vote. That is not in our interest. Infact there are few, if any advantages in getting involved in Syria. Personally I would say "no". However Im not naiive. Most of the world have governments that have some semblence of dictatorships. Russia would be a prime example. Its got a democratic "finish" but in reality its pretty much Tzar Putin and then his realm. It will happen. It happens in alot of places. It will continue to happen in many places. The UN is a lame duck. Most of the UN charters where they are involving themselves in the third world is under resolutions that basically amount to "fire when fired upon, and in case of massacres and mass rapes, count the numbers later and take nice photoes for the Hague". Despite the "never again" credo, the UN hasnt been able to prevent most of the crap in the world. If something IS done, its usually done a day late and a doller short. And it cant be helped as most of the nations who have the vote are either fully or semi dictatorial and the UN is an organisation where most is decided by majority votes. Its not going to change. Infact, its likely to get "worse" before it gets "better". I find the comparison to be that of oranges and apples. Libya is a sparsely populated nation where a guerilla force was able to take controll of cities. Iraq was a fullblown war where the US and coalition forces tried and tries to do too many things at once.

I really hate that argument. 1, it's a game. 2, it's set in a fantasy world and 3, it's not real life! Saying that however. I didn't say live with it I was just making a suggestion, one of many suggestions on how to possibly handle it to suit everyone. Some people don't want it - Others do, so try and find a solution in the middle that won't break the game? As for if someone were to receive a skill point through a skill book or something. Then that wouldn't apply because the player didn't choose it. 1) Point ? 2) Yes? 3) No but a modicum of realism helps "Suspension of disbelief" and helps me immerse into the toon. I dont know any place I can go to IRL and get "respecced" and get m "Talent points and feats" refunded. If I get a respec Im not the guy ingame trying to figure out how to mange with what I have. Im a guy sitting behidn a screen yelling "thats ****ing inept!" Respeccing breaks suspension of disbelief, essential in all storytelling. So why bother?

This. So often you have no real idea what you are selecting before you have tried it out some. Name me something in life that doesnt have that quality. We are "roleplaying". Guessing whats behind door number two is nice but its rarely if ever something we get to rechoose after we choose whats behind door number one.

"Up" was aimed at kids and yet I weeped like a child during the intro. There was more storytelling in those 5 minutes of animated cutscenes explaining the love and loss of a man and wife, than the entire three prequals combined. Hans Christian Andersens fairytale of "The Little Match girl" was aimed for kids in its heyday. It stil has more storytelling than the three prequals despite taking two minutes to read. My nine year old watches the Clone wars for the action solely. He loves stories and my Ad & d inspired goodnite stories I tell most nights. He likes the first three movies, but cannot be arsed watching the prequals. He hates binks as much as I do. Didnt have to goad him any either. He thinks Binks is "stupid". Binks and the rest of the platitudes promoted by lucas suck. Hard. Lucas wouldnt know storytelling if it came up to him and gave him a blowjob in a clowns outfit. He is one of the rare cases where the guy who thinks it up should have sold it off, right away.

Cant be worse than Binks. No matter what. They could introduce Kermit the Frog as a Sith Lord and It would only improve on it.

This. A thousand times this. The prequals were an abomination.

And then you live with your choises and play the next playthrough whilst metagaming. Its fine by me. I dont metagame, but I undestand some might like to. If you do not expect your toon to make mistakes, if you want the "perfect playthrough" in your first playthrough, then you arent really playing to enjoy the story or to experience the game. Youre just in it for stats and gear. Find a savegame editor. Those will abound too. No? Should it? Must it? And then you play your next playthough armed with that knowledge. Then you can choose to metagame, or try out new stuff and see if that works better or differently. I fail to see why one must have everything handed to you on a platter during the first playthrough.

And thats the crux of it. Personal and subjective opinions. I am not in favour of respeccing for RP reasons. Your reasons for wanting the ability to respec seems to be (correct me if I am wrong) in order to make "tactical fantasy combat" more "optimal".