ProfessorOwl_PhD
2d ago
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80%
It was the United States which pioneered the idea of the modern mail system
The UK had a general post office that deliverd to individuals over 100 years before the USA was founded. The US postal system is based on the UK one that delivered their mail before the US's founding. Why on earth would you think the US pioneered it?
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2d ago
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100%
Crocodile, shark, pill bug... They're all creatures that are now famed as "living fossils". Even looks like a coeleocanth fin in one of the panels.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2d ago
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100%
Honestly, for those kinds of people there are two main phrases to use - "what the fuck are you talking about/are you fucking stupid" and "what the fuck is wrong with you". You're not talking to informed individuals who have thought deeply on the issue, you're talking to idiots who haven't paid any attention then started making stuff up to justify their ignorance once it moved back to the centre of the news cycle. They aren't going to start paying attention just because you explained what's happening to them, so make them feel stupid, and bad for being stupid.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2d ago
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100%
Baldur's Gate 3 was truly revolutionary by just letting you use the highest skills from your party members in most circumstances.
...you what? Pathfinder: Kingmaker did that 2 years before BG3 went into early access, and I'm pretty sure owlcat weren't the first to do it either.
I swear down, D&D players claim the weirdest shit as unique or original to D&D.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
4d ago
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100%
Ideally it's about 1:30 but ours is 1:2, or 3:1 in their nest.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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93%
No, the majority are about specific history or culture, usually local. Natural History Museum covers nature, Science Museum covers science, Leeds museum covers the history of the city of Leeds, Crab museum covers worker's movements. The British museum is really the Stuff The British Stole museum.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
I think there's an issue in doing that on a website - kobold, regardless of their reasons for reporting, isn't necessarily going to see and reply to this for some time, so it's just getting seen by everyone else to be speculated over. I feel like this should be a DM because in terms of modding you're the only one that really needs to hear his reasons in order to decide if he gets banned or not, and if his excuse is as bad as the report you can post the whole thing to the dredge tank for dunking.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
like a reddit thread talking about being able to do 520 damage in one attack, some chatter about a "resentment witch" being able to make power word stun or color spray effectively permanent, and a youtube video by the rules lawyer about "OP builds", so it seems like there's at least some system exploitation going on.
Surprisingly, as OP as they seem, they're entirely in line with the intent of PF2e. 520 damage might seem like a lot, but it takes a specific enemy type, some prebuffing, 4 actions (plus any necessary movement) to prepare, 4 spells from 3 other characters, 2 more actions to execute the attack, and some incredibly lucky rolling - an equal level wizard can just use 2 actions to cast the 10th rank spell Cataclysm, and with similar dice luck deal 420 damage. 480 if the target is swimming. That's just level 20 PF2e.
Similarly, the resentment witch is just meant to make those conditions permanent - enemies of a higher level than the party have their success level against those saves increased, so while they can be a huge boon, they're unlikely to do much against enemies they'd really turn the fight against - being able to extend what effects they can land makes incapacitation spells worth potentially wasting on bosses, with the high chance of the spell doing nothing and the ability not even coming into play being the trade off for the power of the ability. Even if the spell does land, it'll be a lesser version of the effect that is extended.
I don't watch the rules lawyer, but from his interaction with the PF2e subreddit I'm pretty confident it's a clickbait title - they'll be powerful builds, but entirely within the intentions of the system, and ultimately as useful in game as most other builds.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
I'd disagree on the second part, because of my other example, PF2e - the original had most of 3.x's problems, but the code-like specificity of 2e is really showing it's possible to stop stuff slipping through the cracks. There is a level of interplay between crunch and the possibility of exploitability, but I don't think it's as strict as bigger systems and more rules inherently lead to more exploits.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
So it is, I'd been looking at the damage and healing rules on 120. I'm sure that's going to be fun to bring up at the table...
Still, I don't think that's as egregious as something like pun-pun or sorlocks short resting to regain spells. There are exploits in other systems, but not at the level or frequency of D&D.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
I think you've conflated part of those rules - there's nothing in the medicine skill saying you can only do it once per wound, just first aid. So you can deal/restore 1 damage in between medicine checks, but that's not what let's you keep making medicine checks.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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100%
Minmaxxing isn't really the same as rules exploits - you can do those things to become really good at combat, but you're sacrificing your abilities in other areas, which make up a significant part of the game. It's not like hiding behind a tower shield to disappear or undead warlocks short resting to stack death ward, where you're actively taking advantage of wording and rules interactions to achieve unintended effects.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
1w ago
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69%
This has a lot of "I've only played D&D" energy. I am fascinated to hear your examples of exploits in VtM, or CoC, or even PF2e. Exploits and rules abuse have always been issues in D&D, which is just one of the reasons there are so many systems that aren't D&D. Plenty of rules can't be exploited, regardless of how intelligent you are - being clever isn't a magic spell that just lets you unravel rules to be remade in your image.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
I made these some 10 years ago now, they might tickle your fancy
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
No I need my emotional support polyhedrons
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
I feel like pistol dueling is banned in the UK, but we can probably scrounge up some big knives and call it a sword fight
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
Rule of cool is just a bandaid for systems that aren't fit for the group's purposes. That's why it rarely shows up outside of D&D.
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
I run PF2 so rules lawyers are generally very useful... As long as they correct the rules at the time, rather than 2 and a half hours later.
Did the mistake change anything about the outcome of the fight? No, but telling the players that would be metagaming
ProfessorOwl_PhD
2w ago
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100%
I rode on it once, ngl, even with all the Dutch people it's fucking amazing to cycle on. Everyone deserves to be able to have a cycling holiday in the Netherlands to see what's been taken from them.
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That's right, Klezmer, the traditional Ashkenazi wedding music. They also cite Serious Sam as inspiration.
He's too old for it to be a reference but like... That's his actual name. Jan Six. I don't know how to process this.
Dr. Rachael Louise “Raygun” Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, who has extensively studied and participated in the Sydney breaking (more commonly known as break dancing) scene. Her work has primarily focused on studying social dynamics in the breaking scene from feminist and queer perspectives: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LLebtn8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra. Gunn has also demonstrated outstanding ability in the breaking scene, having won numerous competitions across Oceania and garnering wide respect from other Australian breakers. Gunn has also been widely reported as having a background in Jazz, Tap dancing, and Ballroom dancing. I put it to you that Rachael Gunn is intimately familiar with breaking, to a much higher degree than most breakers, having both personal and academic experience with the scene. Her academic work breaking down elements of the scene indicate a detailed understanding of the moves, speech, social and cultural contexts, modes of dress, relationship with gender, and numerous other individual aspects. She also has a detailed understanding of her relationship to the scene, having written a paper titled *The ethics of living a double life: rethinking ownership, authenticity, and identity in hip hop culture*, and spoken in interviews of being white and middle class in a scene that grew from socially impressed minorities. So how could someone with the demonstrated knowledge and ability of Raygun not score a single point at all, having reached the Olympics as the highest scoring competitive b-girl in Oceania? Indeed, Martin Gillian, head breaking judge at the Olympics, praised her performance, and she's received extensive support from the breaking community in defence of her routine, so a score of zero seems impossibly unlikely. The inclusion of breaking at the Olympic games was a controversial topic ahead of its debut, primarily due to concerns over the corporatization and dilution of breaking culture inclusion would bring, and was widely criticised by the breaking community. One person who studied the divide in opinions was Dr Rachael L Gunn, who in 2023 published *The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification*, which criticised the IOC and WDSF’s implementation and homogenisation of the scene. From the conclusion of the paper: >[...] the concerns are centred on the impact upon culture, and a potential loss of agency and self-determination. Isolated from neighbouring countries, and consisting of distinct, localized scenes guided by individual agents, top-down decision-making led by the WDSF already impacts the social organization, identities and hierarchies of respect within the Australian breaking scene. >While sport and the Olympics are framed as ‘great equalizers’, the exclusivity of Australia’s sporting institutions along gendered, class and racialized lines means that breaking’s sportification may in fact impact the accessibility of breaking. While the ABA aims to ensure that Australian breakers retain self-determination and agency through this Olympic process, there are many obstacles that come with the introduction of concepts like governance, transparency and accountability. Making global what is essentially a localized practice invariably requires standardization, homogeneity, professionalism and risks further moving breaking away from its African American and Latin cultural traditions and histories. I put it to you that Raygun's olympic performance was in fact carefully calculated to show off breaking without meeting a single olympic criteria, as a protest against the inclusion of the sport, choosing to show breaking off as an artistic medium rather than athletic one. Using movements that were specifically contextual to Australia's presence in an international space, her performance was a criticism of the IOCs attempt to represent breaking as a gymnastic sport rather than artistic expression, and directly intended to sabotage the inclusion of breaking - and expected resulting gentrification of the scene - in the Olympics. Currently it has been confirmed that the 2028 Olympic Games will not feature breaking, and there are currently no plans to include it in the 2032 Games. Raygun wins.
Please commit to your words and actions. Commit to the fucking turn you were going to make right in front of me, before stamping on the brakes at the last second. Commit to a fight after challenging me on not risking my life around your shitty driving. Do I "want to fucking go"? *You have no idea how much I want to fucking go.* I have to cycle around idiots like you all day, if you step out of your armoured wankmobile **i am going to sink my teeth into your flesh and not let go**. I will bite your flabby fucking tits off. I will beat you with my fists and helmet and entire fucking bike until a kind samaritan pulls over to drag me away from your limp body. Anyway, if I ever mysteriously stop posting you should be able to dox me by googling "cyclist eats driver UK".
They're the same species, just different colours
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I originally found this single among my dad's collection as a 12 year old, just learning how to use his record player and having no idea what the switch labelled 33-45 was for. I still think the slow version is better - 0.75 speed on the player will get you close enough. Anyway a couple of years ago I found out [DJ Fresh had done the same thing on purpose](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG9ZWUitFik) around the same time, and somehow I never knew.
[Previous Thread](https://hexbear.net/post/2608163) It's taken a few weeks to start moving peices (that is, the party finally stopped picking fights with librarians long enough to measure time in hours rather than rounds), but since their second night of resting after the murders they have been the targets of *Nightmare* spells, twisting their dreams. Unfortunately that's just been a soft chorus of clucking as they keep succeeding on the will saves, but it did prompt a round of worried discussion between the characters about whether chickens have souls. After a new round of preparations they ventured back into the Gauntlight and started picking fights with librarians again. Also they tried to contradict a ghost administrator and got ghost slapped into purgatory for a moment, but eventually they got back en-route towards the first chicken ghost encounter: the smashed remnants of Krrrterra, who was obliterated with a landslide. Impressively, their first instinct was to go for diplomacy, apologising for killing it, and asking what they could do to help it move on to the afterlife. With a speak with animals spell and a critical success on a diplomacy check, I couldn't just have the chicken fly into a panic and cause a fight, so engaged in dialogue. There were four issues here though: One, while ghosts are normally animated by unfinished business and can only be permanently put to rest by making right the injustices that created them, these ghosts are mostly reanimated by the giant spooky lighthouse that shoots beams of ghosts, so the primary answer is to destroy the 20th level artifact (they are currently level 4). Two, even without the lighthouse, they're motivated by revenge against their killers, so the secondary answer is for the party to be killed by the chicken ghosts. Three, ghosts are often unaware or in denial about their own deaths, nevermind what is needed to put them to rest. And four, chickens are not particularly capable of higher level thought, so the only thing their questioning actually established is that it wanted to eat some worms. So they hit it with positive energy damage until it dissipated. It wasn't a difficult fight, a single PL-1 enemy, because even as a ghost a chicken isn't much of a threat (on its own), but it did teach them some embarrassing lessons about weapons attacks and incorporeal creatures while minorly inconveniencing them, as planned. The ghost chickens have been established as a fun callback, and soon a running joke. Once they start coming back (and in greater numbers), we'll have some good horror cooking and can really start the emotional rollercoaster, but I have to be sparse with details until future updates, as the Goblin Sorcerer's player is reading and I don't want to spoil too much for him. ______________________________________ **New Art** It's bad. You wanna see some cool ghost chicken tokens, go back to the first post. First up, we have Krrrrterra, who was hit with a landslide:  get it? because she was... squashed. It doesn't get better. Hyppokoko, bludgeoned and drowned by a blast of tsunami:  the file name is wetghost.png. like seriously i got no idea And finally, and most [CW: meat]ly, Brrrkit, who was incinerated by a beam of pure heat:  I'm sorry. ______________________________________ **Mechanics** Applying the ghost template to a basic bird statblock didn't get me close to an appropriate challenge for the party, so I altered a [ghost commoner](https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=216) statblock in different ways for all chickens. Krrrterra had the [weak template](https://2e.aonprd.com/MonsterTemplates.aspx?ID=23) applied, the Kinetic Assault ghost ability added, and a handful of minor additions and changes: 
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* Obstruction * Boiler #4 * Lightly Used 2008 Honda Accord * Rémoulade * Yorkie * Lock Do with them what you will.
We're like to extend our most sincere apologies for today's downtime, explain the issue, and talk about what we'll be doing going forward. Late last night or early this morning, an owl entered the server room and, unsurprisingly, pissed on everything. We had to drag them out of a corner where they'd started building a nest out of CAT5 cables. After checking with all our keyholders, we determined that they had not tricked someone into lending them the keys this time, and nobody had left a window open. We have not found their entry point yet, but we suspect we are getting closer (we've found a large pile of shit near one of the vents). We managed to dry one server off and get the website running again, but unfortunately we only have 1 hair dryer and will need a few more days to dry the rest of the servers and get the site fully operational. Going forward, our plan is: * Cover outside AC vents and similar in chicken wire * assess and reinforce weak points in the building's structure * tape old CDs to the building to reflect the sun and scare them away * attack roosting spikes to the server racks * stop keeping open, uncovered cans of beans at our desks We are also looking into hiring a falconer as a more active deterrent. Thank you for your patience in such a difficult time.
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Looks like Palworld has established "game that shouldn't have guns (with guns)" as a genre, so what games are we looking forward to seeing the treatment? Animal Crossing with guns? Football Manager with guns? Disco Elysium with guns?
Lmao, are you for real? Still flaunting your itty bitty my-first-gender that mummy gave you? Grow up, loser. Choose a real gender.
I'm not interested in *your* PCs (or PCs you've heard/seen elsewhere), I want to know what the best PC someone else has played at a table with you is. One of my friends doesn't have lots of TTRPG time, so generally just joins the odd fantasy game with the same character at different levels: Himbo Clerrick. Himbo lives up to his first name, being utterly gorgeous (think young Fabio on the cover of some sword and sorcery romance novel), incredibly heroic, and incredibly dense and oblivious, but not to his second name, being a Paladin. Himbo had been a simple monk who had taken a vow of chastity to serve his god, but his incredible looks put the other monks' and nuns' vows in danger, so they gave him some weapons and armour, told him to go fight the forces of evil for his god, and then took a very cold bath. Powered by his devotion to his god and complete asexuality, he now travels the land looking for evils to defeat and goods to do. Now, I'll admit the player has an impressive CV to begin with (experience in film and TV leading to setting up his own media company, Cambridge Law degree, nationally ranked cross country runner, decent jazz saxophonist, amateur boxer, etc), but Himbo inventively combines and subverts tropes in a way I only otherwise see from very experienced players, and the player has been happy to dive into and engage with the worlds *as Himbo* from the word go. Makes a great change from the people whose first character is Half-Elf Ranger #3752 and are scared to say or do anything even when directly asked.
I should have realised something was up when I saw his coat is black after they specifically said Grey. Look at this shit, he doesn't even sleep right:    Bonus: Teaching the parent's Border Collie pup to sleep wrong 
When we moved in our neighbours told us he had moved in with his girlfriend years ago and not sold the house, on the basis that the relationship might not work out and he'd need somewhere to move back to. Has it been long enough to say his relationship worked out and I can knock the wall through to steal his bedroom to expand my own? I'd like more space and with my desk and wardrobe this room is pretty cramped.
I'm 10 or so hours in and have stolen high tech from a corporation (cool), resurrected a dead terrorist (possibly cool, still don't know his motivations), and drive-by-hacked various cops' cyberware while travelling the city (funny). Outside of that, the side content seems to be entirely social services oriented. Batman the cyberpsychos. Judge Dredd the crimes in progress. Ambulance a guy to a doctor. Social Worker a cop having a mental breakdown. Chat to various people. Is there some sort of "do cool crimes" set of side content that I've missed, or did CDPR just make another sheriff sim?
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They're more famous for the Sopranos Theme, *Woke Up This Morning*, which was originally intended to change every week, but the producers found the A3 track fit so perfectly that they decided to use it for every episode.
I am SICK of having my incredible accomplishments (rolling dice and making up stories about them) dismissed as mere "luck". I HATE listening to people complain about how badly they roll. Today, I am going to reveal to you the secrets of how to make the most of your rolls and pull off incredible gaming achievements: # rule 1: Believe in the Heart of the Dice Just like Yugioh from hit children's cartoon series *Yu-gi-oh!*, you need to believe in your dice, and they need to know that you believe in them. When they roll poorly, don't swap them out, keep using them, demonstrate that you believe they can do it. Punishments like Dice Jails won't help them reform their behaviour, so instead show the dice you care for them: cradle them in your hand, even when you don't intend to roll; find them private furnishings where they can relax with their closest friends between sessions; whisper affirmations to them while they're sleeping - show them you love them. **DO NOT FUCK THE DICE**: Not only will it result in a very embarrassing hospital visit where you have to explain that you proceeded to engage in sexual intercourse with one or more small polyhedrons despite being warned not to by an owl that's a professor, but it will also result in a permanently awkward vibe between you and your dice, and you'll have to get rid of all of them and buy new ones that don't know about the whole dice-fucking situation. # rule 2: Stack the deck Just because you're doing something dangerous doesn't mean it has to be difficult. Did my Paladin manage to 1v1 a Purple Worm despite the party giving up all hope because I rolled nothing but 20's? No, he won because 5e's rules are so unbalanced that he didn't need to roll higher than an 8 on a d20 to hit. Also a moment of tactical genuis where he leapt down its throat so it couldn't keep hitting him with its incredibly damaging tail sting, but mainly the low chance to fail. You can't expect your dice to always bring out their absolute best, so give them lower targets they can hit consistantly. They will appreciate it, and pay you back by giving it their all when it really counts. NB: You may find people claiming that this is a simple matter of probability; These people work for Big Statistics and are liars. Your dice do have feelings and appropriate targets are important for their growth. # rule 3: Once you do take a risk, make it an outrageous risk Dice can't resist the tension of a high stakes roll, so raise those stakes as high as you can. Dramatic tension is key to keeping a die's interest, so if you need a really high roll for a plan to work, make sure it's really life or death. Imagine the scene: A colossal dragon blue dragon is swooping and attacking a ship, far from land, surrounded by churning waves. A handful of arrows and magical rays fly from the deck, but if they are hurting her, she's undeterred - she seems determined to see this ship and its inhabitants reach the bottom of the ocean. On the deck stands a Minotaur Warden, frustrated as the dragon's speed keeps her far from his reach. He eyes her as she lines up her next swoop, starts running to where he thinks she'll attack, and takes a mighty leap - but where? If you think he might grab her leg to hold on, or onto her wing to pin her and bring her down, you do not undestand drama. He jumped directly into her mouth, so he could hit her in the face. Obviously this prompted her to crunch down on the tasty morsel, but the dice were determined to see him live long enough to see his absurd scheme though, so, clinging onto consciousness by a handful of HP, he was still able to deliver one final blow with his warshovel. Of *course* the die rolled a natural 20 and ensured it was a killing blow. In a situation that tense, who *wouldn't*? Just like you, the dice want something to really get excited for - you just need to give them the opportunity. # That's it. Encouragement, achieveable goals, and stimulation. That's everything you need to almost guarantee your dice will always give you their best numbers. They will of course sometimes make mistakes, but these 3 rules will ensure that those mistakes never spiral out of control, and a critical success is never too far away. _______________________ mods I don't know what the hell this is but I needed it out of my head so feel free to delete
Address transphobes as "xx/xx" (/ks/) or "xy/xy" (/zaɪ/)