Juggernaut

So, I'm really stretching things here. Anyways, the past few weeks, I've had some spare time and I've thrown together a few new classes for D&D. I can't quite figure out how to easily post them up here so I've taken screenshots and you can look at them yourself and evaluate.

The first class is the Juggernaut. The point of the class is to charge around, knocking enemies over or just shoving them back. It is extremely durable and because of the sheer amount of ability in Overrun, Bull Rush or Grapple, it can be effective at CC.

You can click on the link to see the detail. If you're interested in more, the next few days should have me posting the other two that I've completed so far. One is a caster and the other is a melee DPS.

All about Al!

I just wanted to throw out some more shots of Al- cuz I like that. Yay for pictures!

Sometime in the nebulous future, I'll share more of Al's favorite costumes

Vanity Weapons

First off, I just want to say that I know the biggest mistake Blizzard has even made. The didn't make a counterpart to Fist of the Deity. It is one of the prettiest weapons in the game and I want it.

However, I play a paladin so I can never equip it- much less its potential counterpart.

What I want to see is vanity weapons (the following could apply to gear as well). Anyone and everyone would be able to wield every single weapon as a vanity weapon. It would be a weapon kinda like The Fire Extinguisher. See- that is a two-hand. Not a mace, sword or axe. Just a two-hand. If you clicked to equip an item you couldn't use, it would pop up a little prompt:

"Equipping this weapon will make it a vanity weapon. It will remove all stats from it and it will be bound to you."

That way, when I (on my pally) see a really cool looking: staff, dagger, fist, or off-hand weapon, I could just equip it so I could look cool- but it wouldn't do anything. The important thing to stress is that all vanity weapons would do 1 dps.

However, what this would mean (especially if it affected (visible) gear) is that people could stop rolling Warriors to RP. At the moment all weapon types (except wands) and all armor (except class armor) can be worn by Warriors. Also all races (except Blood Elves (until Cataclysm)) can be warriors. This gives them the greatest versatility it customizing their appearance- but if you can put on whatever you want, no matter your class- it would look a lot cooler.

Again, this could be a very stupid idea that breaks Arena's beyond belief- but I don't care. I don't PvP. I wanna look purty!

Vanity Titles

I have many titles on Alenena, they are as follows:

The Explorer

Champion of the Frozen Wastes

Jenkins

The Argent Champion

Ambassador

Of the Shattered Sun

The Hallowed

Brewmaster

Matron

Flame Warden

The Noble

The Love Fool

Elder

Merrymaker

Crusader

of Gnomergan

of Stormwind

of Ironforge

of Darnassus

of the Exodar

Bloodsail Admiral

Yeah- thats a lot of titles- but I would like to see more. Not just for my toon, but for other people as well. I think that getting to max level should grant everyone the title [Class] [Name] or [Name] the [Class]. Then, doing something above and beyond would get significant recognition and a superior class title- such as Light-Blessed for paladins, Hand of Elune for druids, Magister for mages etc...

This 'above and beyond' would be something really cool and probably class limited. It may be something like getting Benediction for a priest or challenging a particular mob built to fight the individual.

Probably the easiest way to do this is to create a fight balance for each class (so ten different mobs) and attach slaying it to a quest. The quest could be accessed from any capital-city trainer and they would send you to an arena to fight. It would be a one person instance and the enemy would be designed for your class, perhaps even your spec. Paladins would fight an undead monstrosity, warlocks would fight a demon, death knights would be challenged by a member of the Scarlet Crusade etc....

But this is just an idea.

So I've been thinking...

...what do they think?

And by they I mean my characters. I mean, what do they do after I log out? I know that technically they disappear from the world, but I feel that they can do more than that.

Alenena for example, I feel would go around window shopping. If she saw something she liked she'd call her investment manager (Dugerlok) and have him send over some funds. If there weren't any funds available she'd beat the crap out of mobs until she got some. She might also play with her numerous pets and exercise her dozens of mounts.

Vitos would probably just go out and nuke a target. He is the kinda of a sequestered geek, focused on just getting more power.

Malkhelm would hunt for ore and blacksmithing abilities and wail at his low skill.

Erthu would just run around, like a hyperactive bunny, looking for little things to pounce on. Although he spends most of his time as a bear or boomkin, he is a kitty at heart.

What do your toons do?

RPing for the first time

Yesterday I logged onto my DK on Silver Hand. She is a 59 Unholy Forsaken. Silver Hand is a RP server, and I have never really interacted strongly on the few that I have tried out. Anyways, I definitely had some fun playing 'in character' however, any character concept and history has yet to really happen. I had some very amusing discussions which you can see below. So:

[Trade] Dukazh: wts Crusader Orb for 350. pst me

[Trade] Dukazh: 2 of them!

W to Dukazh: I could sell your children for that much... shall I?

D: ok? I have children at the age of 17?

L: Or would you rather give me an orb and have your children returned- alive and whole.

D: <---- 17. Not worried about children yet

L: Well... Your future childrens' safety is at stake.

D: Thank you doc.

D: from back to the future if you didnt catch that :P

L: Do you really value 350 gold over their potential well being?

D: sure

L: Well, there goes my business plan. When you have children and they go missing, forward a Crusader Orb to me and you'll get them back.

D: hahaha......iiii dont knooooow.

To: Nindera

Subject: Assassination Blades

I would like to purchase both of the Assassination Blades you have on the auction house. However, having just freed myself from The Lich King's thrall for a second time, I am desperately lacking funds. If you could hold onto the weapons until I manage to gather 200g, I would be greatly pleased.

Your Undying (and consequently eternal) customer,

~Lashinara

This last image doesn't need a transcript, it just shows that people on RP realms are (imho) generally more mature, use proper spelling and can take a joke.

Anyways, I had a glorious time and later in the evening got five WSG caps in two consecutive flawless victories.

Real RPGs

Yesterday i said that I would cover ALL RPGs... thats too many.... So I'm going to cover just the basic tabletop RPGs. Thats pretty much D&D. I mean sure, there are many, many other RPGs, but A) I've never played em and B) They're all based off D&D.

For my experience I've played in two 3.5 campaigns(1 current), a 4.0 campaign, and I'm DMing a 3.5 campaign. For about two or three sessions I also participated in a Star Wars 3.5 campaign which ended after those few sessions.

My first campaign was run by a good DM who had DM'd several times before. However, I was brought into the campaign pretty far in and my first ever D&D character was the level 16 Warmage. The experience was not an excellent one for me because casters are significantly more difficult to play than melee classes in tabletop RPGs. The 4.0 was my second and I played a warlock, from the beginning of the campaign. There, the DM was pretty awful starting us in the basement of a tavern killing rats- because it was 'ironic'.

The 3.5 campaign I'm currently in is the best by far. I've died twice, both with silly characters, one of which was ridiculously useless and another who was both useless and made for unnecessary complications for the DM. My third character has actually survived for a significant portion of time and may actually last the rest of the campaign.

The Star Wars campaign was enjoyable because, well, it was Star Wars. I played a Soldier, the equivalent of a D&D fighter. At level 3 (our starting level) I could do 3d8 three times a round, for a total of 9d8. A level 3 D&D character is expected to do about 2d8 or less damage in a round.

Finally, in my D&D campaign I have come to the root of what makes tabletop RPGs superior by far to single player video game RPGs and significantly better than MMORPGs. Its the adaptability and randomness available in the game. In single player RPGs like Dragon Age or the KotOR series, you can only do a limited number of quests. Sure there are a bunch of non-necessary quests, but there are certain things you must do and certain things you cannot do (like jump). In MMOs (Looking at WoW here) there is a lot more variety, you can level by grinding mobs, questing in one of many different areas, run instances or even do BGs. However in my campaign, if someone wants to do something the rulebook (or programming as the case may be) doesn't allow for, I can make up rules and let them cook food to gather up many Rhinoceros (Rhinoceroses?) and then tame one as a mount. I even made it so that in one particular quest the only way they could kill the zombie horde was by hugging them (grapple checks abound). Some games like Oblivion do allow a huge amount of open-endedness- but that is still extraordinarily constricting compared to tabletop RPGs.

Lore and Mashed Potatoes

I like Mashed Potatoes. This is a fact. That is your serving of Mashed Potatoes for this post. YUM.

In other news.... I've often come up with ideas that I would like to try out on an RP server, but haven't gotten around to fleshing out completely.

Idea Number 1: A rogue who has finally gotten over fighting. His/her entire family has died due to the massive wars that have covered the plane as well as other planes. While he is not pacifistic, he tries to avoid combat and weapons as much as possible. His main distinguishing feature will be duel-wielding a pick ax and a skinning knife.

Idea Number 2: A classic. Forsaken DK. She had been training as a priest when she fell to the plague in Stratholme. She was left in Northern Lorderon for a few years and was finally freed from the Lich King's control shortly after Sylvanas broke free. Born again she took the path of the warrior and fought the Lich King as a knight. When she was killed and raised again as his minion, he saw her worth and presented her to Instructor Rasuvius. She passed his tests and became a Death Knight. At the Battle of Lights Hope she broke free again. Since then, she has strived to be more like one of the paladins who saved her from the Lich Kings thrall.

Idea Number 3: Another classic. The common man forced to be a warrior for his nation. He would have a simple suit- this (click the triangle in the left corner to view in 3D). I would add hats, belts, gloves etc... as long as they kept the 'common' look. Shoulders are out of the question, as they are waaaay to fancy for a farmer to have.

Idea Number 4: This one would be a pain to level. The magic-fearing mage. He would not cast any spells, nor use his wand. He would melee. Everything. Unto death. It would take a while. While it is an interesting idea it is so much less plausible than the others that I would be least likely to try this.

Idea Number 5: The Pacifist. He would never kill anything. Never do damage. Again, this a pain, but just as plausible than the mage. The mage would try to kill things but would fail, the pacifist would avoid combat and quests that require killing. He would take gathering quests and courier quests, but could not do more. An interesting question is whether or not there are enough quests available in all of WoW for this to be possible. Once at 10 he could stay in BGs and gather exp that way, but that would be, to a degree, cheating. Additionally, he would not group with players in order to do quests that require killing. Probably a priest or druid.