Gromnir

wisdom and intelligence were always important in bis/obsidian d&d games where attribute checks were important. charisma were also important, but is tough to see a poe charisma replacement. ps:t is likely the prime example o' a game developed by bis/obsidian that focused on wisdom, but even in kotor 2, the developers gave more weight to wisdom than the other attributes. however, there is no specific wisdom attribute in poe. that being said, both perception and resolve jointly fill the role o' d&d wisdom. every initial main character build we consider is attempting to maximize perception, intelligence and resolve. resolve, save for a few tank builds, appears to be a serious dump stat contender. its near uselessness from a mechanics perspective actually makes us more convinced that resolve will be important insofar as role-play and dialogue encounters is concerned. unless we have missed some kinda secret trick regarding skills advancement, based on the beta, we is gonna need chose a single skill to excel at. sure, you could throw a few points into a second skill, but ultimately, you are gonna need to focus. if we gotta choose one skill to make an impact on quest resolutions and dialogues, it is probably gonna be lore, but that is just a guess based on games such as nwn2 and motb. we got no diplomacy skills in poe (attributes will be more vital in poe) but lore, unlike the other skills has almost 0 use outside o' dialogues. again, the relative mechanical uselessness o' lore is part o' what makes us believe that the developers will balance that obvious seeming lack o' return on investment. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure about tattoos. removable tattoos seem so beverly hills. however, "equip" the Rite of St. Sebastian would achieve the same thing w/o people complaining that the tattoos were removable and/or not visible on their avatar. a little scroll that explains what is the currently active Rite your monk underwent? simple. functions like a magic weapon, but is a Rite or Meditation or whatever. HA! Good Fun!

What questions, go ahead, ask, this Guidebook I'm reading can probably satisfy. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66230-the-morality-of-animancy/?p=1452259 is three or four o' these threads in which we were active. never got good answers. However, am thinking, for better or worse, we don't wanna be spoiled. however, thanks for the offer. btw, does guidebook explain how the improved interruption talent works? interrupt is no longer a % based calculation, so am not sure what/where the +15% comes into play. oh, and does guidebook explain why we are still getting persistent status icons? oh, and... HA! Good Fun!

gonna need play the game. we got some questions 'bout animism and undead that need answering. ... am also gonna make an observation that will not be embraced by the excited and cheerful board population: josh is not our favorite obsidian writer. we believe that josh frequently gets hung up on his lore and forgets that such stuff is only just a framework on which to be developing theme and character. we know josh worked hard on caesar's legions in fo: nv. we could see how much attention to detail went into his crafting o' locations o' histories and backgrounds in honest hearts. the thing is, josh contribution to lore and history details o' a game frequent make the game less palatable for us. we get that yxunomei were s'posed to have, at least on the surface, a cold, rational and remote personality. fine. unfortunately, that is josh's writing style. we didn't care about edward sallow or pretty much anybody in honest hearts. josh, in our experience, treats world-building as an end rather than a means. all the lore and attention to detail is useless unless it makes game more evocative. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64298-josh-sawyer-on-the-importance-of-real-world-knowledge-for-game-design/?p=1363878 "infusing knowledge/reality to make evocative = good. "treating reality as a goal, in-and-of-itself = bad." now before you think we is slamming josh... well, we is kinda slamming him. even so, we believe, from what we has heard, josh is very capable at managing a game development, and as far as working on mechanics o' combat and other gameplay considerations, we will chooses sawyer over cain every day and twice on sunday. is not that we believe that josh sux as a game developer-- quite the opposite. heck, in the limited context o' board interactions, we would even say we like josh. a developer who is willing to interact with the fanbase such as josh does is rare, and we applaud his efforts and courage... and even his infrequent but memorable fits o' pique. that being said, we want him less involved in story development. have josh create a kinda working history and mythology for the game is ok just as long as other writers don't feel the need to force-feed us details. let such lore stay hidden in early design documents unless there is a need to share. use josh efforts to inspire other obsidian writers is fine, but we genuine believe that his world building efforts and writing contributions in past games has hurt at least as much as helped. countdown to flames o' Gromnir in 5... 4... 3... 2...1... HA! Good Fun!

ps visual aid included for selling snapping turtle as druid shape change. however, since we is talking shape-change into some kinda hybrid human + _________ form, there is a danger o' looking a bit like a cartoony ninja turtle. regardless, we still got votes for octopus, even if it is simple a bipedal with a weird shaped head, extra appendages and a beaked mouth, and snapping turtle. perhaps have octopus auto-squirt ink when endurance drops below 30%? HA! Good Fun!

we suspect an octopus would kinda float on the ground, which might look a bit odd. however, an alligator snapping turtle would be keen. snappers do live in estuaries where the water is brackish. HA! Good Fun!

there were actual a fair number in bg. mencar were not a contest winner, and there were a handful o' similar inclusions in the game, such as the vampire named del. the scimitar throwing fellow at the docks, and the githyanki wild mage in waukeen's promenade were the contest winners. diesel, the guy who submitted the wild mage, were insulted so frequent following the announcement that his character would be in bg2 that he either changed handles or simple left the boards. HA! Good Fun!

how 'bout an octopus? http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150224-octopus-attacks-crab-vin HA! Good Fun!

oil rights are leased to... somebody. am forgetting who. test wells get dug every couple years by the folks who currently lease the rights, but nothing so far. the shale is low quality as well. ash and clay... and possibly uranium. there is speculation 'bout uranium 'cause of amounts found in ground water, but that is far as it goes. during the 60s and 70s, hucksters were able to sell hundreds o' geiger counters to the residents o' Pine Ridge. folks thought they could get rich from uranium by wandering through the badlands with a freaking geiger counter. there is a fair amount o' high quality, pottery-grade clay at Pine Ridge, but there isn't currently enough demand to make large-scale operations economic viable. its pretty though. there is also an accessible layer o' volcanic ash, which is actual kinda scary when you think 'bout it. the presence o' the ash, which sells for less than $1 per pound and doesn't have high demand anyway, is likely the result o' the last o' the last yellowstone super volcano eruption. pine ridge has alcoholism, diabetes, suicide and poverty in abundance; is pretty much all pine ridge has.

Tell me about it...Stats distribution in this game is excruciating not only because of questionable combat efficiency, but also because non-combat skill\attribute checks are made only for protagonist which is why if Gromnir makes a protagonist rogue, it will have a rather odd stat distribution and non-optimal skill spread. 18 perception, 14 intelligence, 16 resolve and the rest 10s with all skill points in lore along with one o' the +2 lore backgrounds. dual-wield spears with the aforementioned attributes is still highly efficacious in combat. also, this is not our first bis/obsidian game. am preferring to take a slight handicap in combat abilities to get the attributes and skills we believe will be the most frequent and/or significant in a role-play game from the aforementioned crpg developer. the notion o' a "best" attribute distribution w/o considering dialogue and cut-scene checks is a bit myopic in our estimation. sure, there is no way to know what will be the important attributes and skills in poe based on only the bb experience, but this is not the first game bis/obsidian has developed. you will be able to thrive in combat with even a sub-standard attribute spread, because the attributes is far less impactful in poe than in many other crpgs. so, from our pov, it makes more sense to be concerned with the role-play and dialogue effects o' attributes and skills. HA! Good Fun!

no prob, and yes, there were an ambiguity. point is that you are far more likely to run out o' endurance than health in combat, particularly in hard mode when the damage is coming in extreme big chunks and it is difficult to replenish endurance fast enough through healing. HA! Good Fun!

and you have less endurance... far less. endurance gets drained first. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't read it. so, let us know if you is denying that jews in Germany still suffer from bigotry and intolerance or if you is admitting such stuff exists but that you are blaming on muslims. either way we can rebut, so it don't genuine matter, but is no sense responding to both. HA! Good Fun! I'm saying that Germany does not suffer from anti-semitism anymore than any random country does. which is a far, FAR different thing than suggesting that intolerance o' jews is "absolutely dead" in germany. HA! Good Fun! Which I never stated. If you wanna take it out of context I did, but there's no purpose in that, is there? I clarified that of course you'll find random loons anywhere. I meant that for the issue to be "alive" then it would need to be abnormal and above average. It's not though. I thought that would be the logical conclusion given that acknowledging some degree of anti-semitism contradicts the absolute tone of my other sentence...? You were the one who took it absolutely literally despite the clarification given. its quoted for a reason. "The days of racism against Jews in Germany are absolutely dead." only the incredible rare "loon" is involved in such stuff in germany, yes? no. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't read it. so, let us know if you is denying that jews in Germany still suffer from bigotry and intolerance or if you is admitting such stuff exists but that you are blaming on muslims. either way we can rebut, so it don't genuine matter, but is no sense responding to both. HA! Good Fun! I'm saying that Germany does not suffer from anti-semitism anymore than any random country does. which is a far, FAR different thing than suggesting that intolerance o' jews is "absolutely dead" in germany. HA! Good Fun!

How was it fixed though. with beeswax, baling wire, belly button lint from a 101 year old sheik, and a bit o' magic. maybe not. HA! Good Fun!

gonna order the t-bone for yourself? based on nothing save the brief written descriptions, am admitting we would go with the braised belly bacon and the the grilled bone marrow... and either the shwarma or the beef tartare. let the wife choose the healthy stuff... or not. have fun. HA! Good Fun!

the dakotas are not year-round tourist locales, and the nearest major metropolises is, well, not particular major. winter starts in mid october and lasts into march. sioux falls is the largest city in south dakota with a staggering population o' ~150k. 'course sioux falls is extreme east south dakota. rapid city is much closer to pine ridge, and its population is ~65k. the capital o' south dakota, if you recall from elementary school, is pierre, which is not pronounced as you would expect. less than 15k residents in pierre. is not like field of dreams for casinos at Pine Ridge: if you build it, they will come. well, they do come to the single casino, but the total revenue is pitiable. also, larger tribes make less money from casinos 'cause o' revenue splits. to make matters worse, there is a goodly number o' reservations in that part o' the country, soooo... plus, the tribe is not particular good at handling money. am recalling we/they lost a large amount o' money on some kinda ludicrous bitcoin venture. am not joking, bitcoin. HA! Good Fun! ps there ain't actual revenue sharing for oglala from casino money. the amount o' revenue generated is so small that it would literally cost more to mail monthly checks than those checks would provide.

out of endurance = out of the fight. ideally, you keep your health from dwindling fast by keeping up endurance, 'cause endurance gets drained first. you are gonna need to be healing frequently. a priest can actual have better accuracy than a paladin. the difference in starting accuracy between paladins and priests is a +5 in favor o' the paladin, but the favored weapon talent is a +10 modifier. sure, the paladin gets zealous focus aura, but the priest has spells that boost accuracy as well. the paladin requires less hand-holding, and he/she can be a very capable tank, at least at lower levels. you can boost paladin deflection through the roof, but it is tough to hold aggro with a paladin. however, depending on the player, the paladin's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: it requires very little micromanagement. if you wanna furiously click buttons in combat, the paladin ain't gonna be your thang. HA! Good Fun!

however, there aren't that many accuracy boosting talents. by level 6, you is likely gonna be having near optimal accuracy, but that accuracy will be tied to one or two weapons. poor health/endurance and poor deflection is issues, but it also depends on how you spend your attributes. regardless, you can make a highly effective combat priest o' berath who dual wields maces and has the entire priest spell catalog at their disposal as well. a priest o' skaen dual wielding stilettos is also viscous. berath gets 2-handed sword and can be made quite effective with such a weapon. am thinking the quarterstaff is gonna be a surprisingly good weapon choice in poe. there appear to be more than a few unique quarterstaves in the game. am suspecting that priests o' wael will predictably become popular if there are indeed excellent quarterstaves available in the game. as a support character, a priest can be very good in combat. oh, and am not certain how many times we had wished we had one more priest while playing the bb. priests get some excellent spells. got near indispensable buffing spells, heal spells, underused but excellent cc spells and a handful o' very good offensive spell. am knowing other classes is more powerful, but when that BB MVP thread were still at the top o' the board, we were unabashed about naming the priest as our clear mvp. not most powerful, but most valuable. you gotta spend talents wisely to be a decent combat priest, but it is viable. however, you are gonna be fragile. am s'posing you could spend enough points in constitution to make you less anemic, but then you is taking points away from might or dex or intelligence and perception. no matter what kinda combat priest build you end up with, it is unlikely to have a particular good constitution. chances are that you is gonna die if you attract aggro, so be careful. HA! Good Fun!

average life expectancy for males at Pine Ridge is 48. based on averages, Gromnir only has a few years left to us. 'course that ain't the way it actual works, but you can understand why the person calling from a list is gonna start pestering anybody over 45. it is hard for most folks to understand, but the standard of living in gaza is better than Pine Ridge, based on any set o' stats other than "deaths due to combat with the idf." infant mortality, poverty, unemployment, etc. Pine Ridge makes gaza seem like a veritable vacation destination. and, we will note that after we mentioned who we were donating money to, the tribal rep did give us a noticeably pregnant pause, but she weren't rude. our aunt, on the other hand, were livid. am suspecting we won't be invited for christmas this year, or next, or the next. HA! Good Fun!

got a call that we were anticipating with some dread. a couple weeks ago we, were contacted by a representative o' the tribe asking what we were planning to do with our money after we died. were not quite so bloodless, but that were the gist. we got no wife or kids, and our previous beneficiary died. for some reason, Gromnir were mildly offended. yeah, we know the oglala need money and they would be irresponsible if they didn't ask such questions, but even so, we were bothered by the solicitation call. we coulda' been diplomatic and informed the unfortunate representative that we would seriously consider leaving everything to the tribe, but it were a big decision and we would need time to reflect. am knowing it is hard to believe, but Gromnir is typical very polite; we rarely make a situation more difficult for the person with whom we is is dealing. however, is not complete outta character for us to... chastise? ... we told the representative that for 20 years we had given 10% o' our gross income Before taxes to the tribe and we would continue to do so. however, at the time o' our death, our entire estate would be donated to: http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=7b22b46b476a7410VgnVCM100000290115acRCRD&sc_cid=kwp1&sc_kw=st%20jude%27s%20children%27s%20hospital%20donations&sc_mt=e&sc_adid=49117040122&gclid=Cj0KEQjwuI-oBRCEi87g0K3O8OoBEiQAb25WActI4wY38S8ImVsGh8D70tZT0fx98DY2xv9p1NrBY3AaAtp88P8HAQ the conversation functionally ceased at that point. unfortunately, Pine Ridge is not having a particular large population, and we were aware that our deceleration o' intent would make its way back to family. and so it did. is not as if we were talking to a priest in confessional, so we knew our family would find out 'bout the st. judes donation, but at the time we didn't care. a couple days later we began to care, but by then it were too late. anywho, we got a phone call today from an aunt. she were a wee bit unhappy with us. this kinda thing is also one o' the main reasons we have never partaken o' alcohol. am suspecting our rl Gromnir Moments would multiply exponentially while intoxicated. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't read it. so, let us know if you is denying that jews in Germany still suffer from bigotry and intolerance or if you is admitting such stuff exists but that you are blaming on muslims. either way we can rebut, so it don't genuine matter, but is no sense responding to both. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* "your inane response, "complete ignores actual problems o' the crisis, but nice try." your attempt to distract with irrelevancies after you make ridiculous assertions is amusing but predictable and tediously repetitive. we wish there were a way to add the chastisement you selective lifted from your quote o' Gromnir and add it to all responses to zor. sadly, the board software doesn't allow such."" so, how much for recession and increasing foreign work force and war? if 25%-40% is western sanctions, then how much for everything but oil? go ahead and show us another bloomberg graph. we can wait. HA! Good Fun!

am not a fan of randomized stats and hps either, but it doesn't take much perspicacity to realize just how important the con bonus from the constitution attribute is in pnp and ie game d&d. so, con is vital and so too is dex, and strength is as well. intelligence, wisdom and charisma were likely equal important in pnp d&d campaigns, but that depended on your dm. am just observing, once again, that starting attributes in old skool d&d were actual far too important. at least it is our opinion that those level 1 rolls were far too important. HA! Good Fun!

dunno. speaking o' +2, assume you get max con for your thief in bg... 'cause you is a glutton for punishment. is no other reason to play a thief in bg, but whatever. how many hps you get by level 10 w/o con bonus? average says 35, yes? 3.5 is actual average o' d6, yes? so after 10 levels, if you play fair, 35 hps is what you would expect for a thief with no con bonus. 16 con thief? he/she has an extra 20 hps. obviously the numbers is gonna be even more significant for a mage, and a bit less for a cleric. but heck, how 'bout fighters? a fighter at the end o' bg 1 should average at about 39 hps based only on hd per level. with an 18 con, you add 28 more hps. HA! Good Fun!