Author Topic: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft  (Read 60416 times)

Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #75 on: February 07, 2007, 01:27:31 PM »
Methinks Bela is a .....touch....behind on overdue Powers Checks. 

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #76 on: February 07, 2007, 01:54:38 PM »
I'd rather see people with powers checks start roleplaying out their curses, otherwise they are mainly boons. Most players chose to ignore their powers checks most of the time as it is more convenient.

Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #77 on: February 07, 2007, 01:59:42 PM »
Gimme one and I'll RP it out.  But otherwise, I agree.  Hell I'd settle for people RPing out their low charisma :D .  I'd sell what's left of my soul, to see someone play a female character, that is either a Dwarf, or a Fat Human.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #78 on: February 07, 2007, 02:09:02 PM »
Quote
I'd sell what's left of my soul, to see someone play a female character, that is either a Dwarf, or a Fat Human.

Purple plays a dwaf female [cant 'member its name]

And Shaddy Merchant plays a fat human ;) Fredek Artali

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Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #79 on: February 07, 2007, 02:30:24 PM »
Quote
I'd sell what's left of my soul, to see someone play a female character, that is either a Dwarf, or a Fat Human.

Purple plays a dwaf female [cant 'member its name]

And Shaddy Merchant plays a fat human ;) Fredek Artali

Haven't seen them anywhere myself.  Still.  *ponders* You know Nef, YOU, could make us a nice evil chunky high charisma Jane Russel type PC to balance out all the sex kitten toons here.  Or a Mae West type.  Hell in a gothic setting, the GOOD looking women should be the chunky ones anyway.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #80 on: February 07, 2007, 02:49:08 PM »
Quote
I'd sell what's left of my soul, to see someone play a female character, that is either a Dwarf, or a Fat Human.

Purple plays a dwaf female [cant 'member its name]

And Shaddy Merchant plays a fat human ;) Fredek Artali

Fat, Peg legged cripple illiterate guard. Hard to beat.

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Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #81 on: February 07, 2007, 02:55:30 PM »
Oh yeah.  Do that with a female PC.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #82 on: February 07, 2007, 03:18:16 PM »
I only have one char with DPs.. Lvl 1 DP at that, meaning not a serious curse. Sadek has a craving for the flesh of sentient beings and is slightly more bestial than before.. In other words, his natural tendencies got magnified.. ;)
And one can hardly call Sadek a peoples person, seeing as he would eat anyone if not Carrib was there to keep him in check at times.. And the fact that he tends to bully people rather than sweet talk them..
Heh, I seem to manage both then :D

Though I agree that I´d like to see more play to their low attributes..
Below average int->You can not speak clearly!(I have alot of grief with this.. Examine-> gets "Seems a bit dull-witted etc" and they behave like they are fully normal.. stinks of power-building)
Below average Wis-> Prone to rash acts.. Maybe mad in some way.. Daydreamer.. etc..
Below average Cha-> Not a peoples person!

But then again i´d like to see people RP their strengths as well..
High Str-> Lots of muscles.. Not some slim chick here.. coupled with a high Con as well we get a big person..
And yet alot of those with high scores in these attributes, especially women, put in "beautiful, slim but athletic"  when it should say "ever seen any of those chicks in bodybuilder magazines? .... looks like that."
For example, Julia Colds would have tendencies to look like one of those women ;)(18+ Str is massive! It´s the peak of human physique, beyond that is superhuman..)

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Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #83 on: February 07, 2007, 06:04:05 PM »
I only have one char with DPs.. Lvl 1 DP at that, meaning not a serious curse. Sadek has a craving for the flesh of sentient beings and is slightly more bestial than before.. In other words, his natural tendencies got magnified.. ;)
And one can hardly call Sadek a peoples person, seeing as he would eat anyone if not Carrib was there to keep him in check at times.. And the fact that he tends to bully people rather than sweet talk them..
Heh, I seem to manage both then :D

Though I agree that I´d like to see more play to their low attributes..
Below average int->You can not speak clearly!(I have alot of grief with this.. Examine-> gets "Seems a bit dull-witted etc" and they behave like they are fully normal.. stinks of power-building)
Below average Wis-> Prone to rash acts.. Maybe mad in some way.. Daydreamer.. etc..
Below average Cha-> Not a peoples person!

But then again i´d like to see people RP their strengths as well..
High Str-> Lots of muscles.. Not some slim chick here.. coupled with a high Con as well we get a big person..
And yet alot of those with high scores in these attributes, especially women, put in "beautiful, slim but athletic"  when it should say "ever seen any of those chicks in bodybuilder magazines? .... looks like that."
For example, Julia Colds would have tendencies to look like one of those women ;)(18+ Str is massive! It´s the peak of human physique, beyond that is superhuman..)

People do that because they do not really understand the scales of the DND system, to the real world.

Intelligence is easy.  Add a Zero to the end of the number, that is your IQ.  The other stats are compairable to that as well.

Strength is one people get FUBARED on.  A 12 Strength, broken down into loads (those of us with military backgrounds fondly remember the load of a full kit), is simple.  Light 43 pounds.  Medium 44 to 86.  Heavy 87 to 130 pounds.....Now, that effects you speed just like armor of the same "load class".  No biggie, and to a lot, doesn't look like much.  a 12 STR person, can lift 130 pounds straight up, over their head.  I work in construction, that's NOT easy, even for strong people.  They can lift 260 pounds up to their gut, and go very slowly with it.  They can push/drag/deadlift it just off the ground,  650 pounds.  Current world record for Deadlift in the heavyweight class right now I believe is 500 kg (set by Matt Rossiter, aukland)  Though deadlift records get broken all the time, before Matt it was Ken Brown.  500 kg is around 1100 pounds, give or take.  A 12 STR can DO HALF THAT.

This makes for BIG people.  If you can take, a 650 pound block of something, and shove it across the floor, you are a beast.  I hook you up to a 650 pound pile of cinder blocks and you drag it somewhere, but you can't do oh, 750 pounds, you're at about a 12 str.

Wheeled objects don't count.  Reguarly, on the day job, my average wheeled load pushed/pulled by hand, was betwen 2,000 and 6,000 pounds (example, Bunk of 4" Jatoba Hardwood on a cart = 4400 pounds (40 cases) + weight of cart (another 150 or so), average good sized Jatoba job, 50 cases or 5500 pounds.  Tile could be even more, especially granite or porcelain).  Math people can tell you that with wheeled weights it's only a matter of providing the initial energy of roughly 25% of the mass, to get it moving, then less to maintain it because Inertia helps.  Until you try and stop it.

That is your scale.  Model accordingly.  You can get a lot of power out of a good Looking lithe woman, ala, Rachel Mclish ( http://www.builtreport.com/mclish/042.jpg ) But that was when she started building for figure and symaetry, as opposed to Power.  Because there is a VERY simple rule in power lifting, or body building.  It takes MASS, to lift Mass.  Mass on women, makes them look like this. ( http://www.builtreport.com/mclish/019.jpg ).  I like Rachel a lot more now that she stoped going for Power.

~Rex  :twisted:
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Bluebomber4evr

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #84 on: February 07, 2007, 06:11:03 PM »
 :offtopic:

okay this is rapidly getting off-topic. the thread is about 20th level monks in ravenloft, not about how D&D stats are translated into reality, or how to roleplay powers checks.

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Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #85 on: February 07, 2007, 06:32:43 PM »
:offtopic:

okay this is rapidly getting off-topic. the thread is about 20th level monks in ravenloft, not about how D&D stats are translated into reality, or how to roleplay powers checks.

True it did skew off topic.  But the stat post has relevance.  It's not how DnD stats reflect their real world counterparts, it's how they should impact the look of what you see in game.  An 18 str woman should not be a centerfold beanpole.  Power checks came up in regards to what happens in other avenues for Monks approaching that power level.

As for the monks, and some of the other people in that range.

WHY, does the Count, not do something about it? Cannonly speaking, the skeletal steeds have arrived for FAR less of a threat to the count, then some reality bubble creating, d20 plus damage 9 something attacks areound immune to half the stuff in the game Monk?

The Count is being a damn sissy.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #86 on: February 07, 2007, 06:40:56 PM »
As for the monks, and some of the other people in that range.

WHY, does the Count, not do something about it? Cannonly speaking, the skeletal steeds have arrived for FAR less of a threat to the count, then some reality bubble creating, d20 plus damage 9 something attacks areound immune to half the stuff in the game Monk?

The Count is being a damn sissy.

~Rex  :evil:
As I've explained before:

If your PC presents a direct threat to Strahd then he will more than likely deal with you. But being a "direct threat" means something more specific than being a high-level character.
Strahd has much better things to do with his time than pounce on every high-level character. He should be reserved for special relevant events.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #87 on: February 07, 2007, 06:42:52 PM »
There aren't any Skeletal Steeds. Strahd rides in a carriage powered by the force of his pure awesomeness that gives off mildly acidic toxic vapors that cause any member of greenpeace that inhales them to spontaniously combust. Stradh for Preisdent. But i'm gett off topic.

At first I expected Strahd to run about crushing and destroying any threat in a Nicollo Machiavelli-esque manner, but i'm beginning to think the characters style is different from that.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #88 on: February 07, 2007, 06:45:10 PM »
At first I expected Strahd to run about crushing and destroying any threat in a Nicollo Machiavelli-esque manner, but i'm beginning to think the characters style is different from that.
*Hands Blues a cookie*  :cookie: Finally, someone gets it!  :mrgreen:

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #89 on: February 07, 2007, 06:55:38 PM »
Well if -I- was an evil overlord thats what I would do... Azalin Rex Style all the way. But whatever floats Strahds boat. A boat made from the sewn together corpses of his enemies. Don't worry it's dry, Barovia is landlocked.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #90 on: February 07, 2007, 07:07:46 PM »
Well if -I- was an evil overlord thats what I would do... Azalin Rex Style all the way. But whatever floats Strahds boat. A boat made from the sewn together corpses of his enemies. Don't worry it's dry, Barovia is landlocked.
That's one of the reasons why Azalin and Strahd never saw eye to eye.

Really, Strahd is nothing if not patient. If need be, he can simply outlive his enemies....and has on many occasions.  :evillol:

He mainly relies on his servants and minions to take care of general troublemakers...and if those servants fail him they know the consequences.

Strahd will only make an appearance if the characters are doing something that affects him personally.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #91 on: February 07, 2007, 08:04:05 PM »
When reading against the grain of Strahd's memoir, I see Strahd as his own worst enemy.  He was a master of war, and could handle the pragmatics of governing.  But when it came to his personal life, when it come to love, to affairs of the heart, or his fear of his own mortality, he was a tragic failure, a tragic coward.  Far too many years invested into nothing but war and conquest of others, at the expence of never maturing or growing emotionally or spiritually.  He inspires as much pity as he does dread.  In fact, in his memoir, I feel he does wallow in self-pity, painting a picture of himself as a victum or a tragic hero at times. 

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #92 on: February 07, 2007, 09:28:57 PM »
Certain people Strahd saved the lives of for incomprehensible reasons do indeed greatly pity him and that's probably going to ruin them...~shift eyes at Blue~

Thats what makes Strahd such a deep character really. In the end you have to ask yourself- is he really evil, or just someone who'd be seeing a Shrink these days?

Quote
Really, Strahd is nothing if not patient. If need be, he can simply outlive his enemies....and has on many occasions

Sounds like an elf... And he does have those ears..HMMMMM! Keeding, of course.

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #93 on: February 07, 2007, 09:49:39 PM »
Quote
Strahd has much better things to do with his time than pounce on every high-level character. He should be reserved for special relevant events.

[swooon] Yah can pounce me anyday of the week Strahdelicious...  :lol:

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #94 on: February 08, 2007, 01:07:59 AM »
A couple questions since I haven't read over my books in a while.
Since the monk in question creates a domain around itself, would a Darklord be able to sense that hole in their realm, similar to how they can sense any lvl of paladin?  If so, I'm sure that the DL would want to keep an eye on the monk.... Or dissect him to see if this personal realm could be a means to escape.
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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #95 on: February 08, 2007, 01:10:47 AM »
A couple questions since I haven't read over my books in a while.
Since the monk in question creates a domain around itself, would a Darklord be able to sense that hole in their realm, similar to how they can sense any lvl of paladin?  If so, I'm sure that the DL would want to keep an eye on the monk.... Or dissect him to see if this personal realm could be a means to escape.
it's not truly a domain, and the effect would be the opposite of what paladins do. A paladin acts like salt on a wound to a darklord...a reality wrinkle is like a black hole--you can't see it, just the absence of light around it.

And darklords can't escape in an outsider's reality wrinkle, though that doesn't mean they couldn't try if they don't know how they work.

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Raziel

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #96 on: February 08, 2007, 01:20:57 AM »


And darklords can't escape in an outsider's reality wrinkle, though that doesn't mean they couldn't try if they don't know how they work.

Yeah, I remembered that part.  Though I think some of them obessed with escape would be really interested in the ability to cross closed boarders. 
So anyway, the Lords that can sense everyone and everything, Azalin for example, would just see a black hole or nothing.  I wonder if the same holds true in Castle Ravenloft or something like the black coach.  Eh, just idle curiosity.  I'm sure though that it's a situation that doesn't come up to often and would merit scrutiny once the Lord notices it.  Whatever action gets taken would probably be a reaction to what the monk does with his abilities.
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the moon is large and bright.


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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #97 on: February 08, 2007, 01:25:21 AM »
What is this black coach drawn with Nightmares that people keep talking about?

Raziel

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #98 on: February 08, 2007, 01:28:44 AM »
If you ever find out, it's too late  :lol:

From what I understand, it was one of the gifts from the dark powers.  It's drawn by 4 black horses (I don't think they're demonic nightmares) and Strahd can control it with his mind, just like the doors and gates in Ravenloft.  In addition, he can sense anyone in it and close it it.  Need the book in front of me for the range, but anyway he sometimes sends it to people to fetch them or takes it himself if he needs to travel for a couple days. 
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the moon is large and bright.


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Bela von Morris- Working for the people
Mickey Nimblefingers- Loveable halfer

Rex

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Re: 20th Level Monks and Ravenloft
« Reply #99 on: February 08, 2007, 01:43:13 AM »
Pretty much. 

~Rex  :twisted:
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