Buddha's New D&D Thread is Groovy, Man.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation.  As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.

[Neil]

Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation.  As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.

The meatshield concept has come to D&D.  Thanks a lot, WoW.

[katmai]

All i have to add is I can now overlook Oex's cheese snobbery as he is a fellow Pendragon fan.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.

[saskganesh]

... an innocent baby Orc?

[Neil]

Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.

Alignment is a descriptor, and thus used best when not taken too seriously.  The only time it should really be used like a club is in the rare case of a Helm of Opposite Alignment.

You know, I always wondered how some of the outer planes kept themselves populated.  I mean, places like Arcadia, Acheron, Gehenna, Tartarus, Pandemonium, Ysgard, the Twin Paradises and the Happy Hunting Grounds must have been lightly populated, due to their freakish alignments.  I mean, how many Lawful Netural (Evil) characters did you ever meet?

[crazy canuck]

You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules.  His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.

They are only "not within the rules" because we have general rules against conflicts of interest.

Conflict of interest is a much less serious charge then abuse of office which is what the examples cited are.   

[Neil]

You of all people should know they are not within the realm of the technical rules.  His first example would be serious enough for criminal charges to be laid.

They are only "not within the rules" because we have general rules against conflicts of interest.

Conflict of interest is a much less serious charge then abuse of office which is what the examples cited are.

Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation.  As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.

The meatshield concept has come to D&D.  Thanks a lot, WoW.

Never played WoW, but that is an apt descriptor. If the Defender goes down the rest of the party gets slaughtered, even with Second Wind and all that, they'll have no staying power.  On the other hand, playing the Defender is kind of a thenkless task, as you'll be watching other people kicking ass.

[saskganesh]

Bah you guys take the whole alignment thing waaaaayyy too seriously. I've never ever paid any attention to it as a player or a DM unless the "drift" is flagrant... ie: Paladin does something obviously "evil" like killing an innocent.

Alignment is a descriptor, and thus used best when not taken too seriously.  The only time it should really be used like a club is in the rare case of a Helm of Opposite Alignment.

You know, I always wondered how some of the outer planes kept themselves populated.  I mean, places like Arcadia, Acheron, Gehenna, Tartarus, Pandemonium, Ysgard, the Twin Paradises and the Happy Hunting Grounds must have been lightly populated, due to their freakish alignments.  I mean, how many Lawful Netural (Evil) characters did you ever meet?

well, the denizens are immortal and planes are as big as they "need" to be, so pretty much any desired density can be arrived at.

if the powers are lonely, they can always create plane specific creatures... schtuff like modrons ...

[crazy canuck]

Maybe, but abuse of office isn't inherently non-lawful.

I really have no idea what you mean by that.  Read the SCC decision in Roncarelli (sp?).

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Having just got my halfing fighter to sixth level I've realized that the 4th ed has really crushed customization and improvisation.  As a "defender" my main role is to soak up damage while the controllers and strikers dole out 2x as much hurt as I can with their powers. Fighters seem to be a form of living shield, and kind of limited by that.

That sucks. I guess if you want to customize in 4.0 you have to Multi-class.

In my current 3.5 game I'm both a Defender, and a Striker. I absorb damage (having a d10) and I deliver the 2nd best damage (behind the fighter) but we are at low levels.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Multiclassing isn't especially great, I've found.  You have to burn the equivalent of two feats in order to get the limited benefits.  I liked the 2nd ed rules on multiclassing and dual classing.  They made mroe sense than 3rd, and a heck of a lot more than 4th.

[Valmy]

Neil changed the meaning of lawful so that people could meaningfully play a LE character.  By definition a LE character would have a very limited ability to do anything unless the structure he was working in was inherently evil.  Which is why Asmodeus could be LE.  His sphere war run by him under rules that were inherently evil.

In any role playing world LE characters would be essentially be non existant.

Huh?  There are all sorts of ways to be evil while staying within the letter of a law.

You are a lawyer for godsake, you should know this professionally.

In short I have no idea what you are babbling about.  Lawful Evil is by far the smartest sort of evil with the most real world examples.  I roleplayed with Lawful Evil characters for over a decade so I call bullshit on your assertion.

Actually an organized criminal organization with a strict code of conduct and sense of honor could even be Lawful Evil.

[Valmy]

Acting in your best interests while entirely disregarding how it might effect others is almost the very definition of evil.

At least in the D&D world this is absolutely true.