Charisma is a dump stat?

I recently came across a Marshal class rewrite on the Wizards boards that has ensorcelled me (hah, I used ensorcell in a sentence). It combines the core marshal mechanic of auras (which I previously and unwittingly found quite suited to breaking the Diplomacy skill) with maneuvers from the Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.

I have yet to put together even a first level Sublime Marshal, as it is called, but I have been assembling a mercenary band in my mind. It started when I got the Red Hand of Doom adventure and then found the Warmage and Healer classes from the same Miniature's Handbook as the original marshal. The marshal, warmage, and healer all utilize Charisma, though the healer has it as a secondary, rather than primary, stat. If you add a Bard and a Paladin, you have a five-member party that covers all four primary roles and adds a fifth, support character in the marshal (in a party with the typical Big Four (fighter, rogue, cleric, and wizard), the usual support character in my mind is a Bard because his abilities add to each of the other four and he can step-in for one in a pinch; in this case, the marshal is not a particularly good support character in that respect but his abilities nonetheless complement this team).

None of this being set in stone, a primary idea is for the marshal to have leadership. I want the followers especially and have no idea what to get for a cohort (perhaps a monstrous cohort like a dragon mount).

Anyway, I have only put thought into the marshal and warmage, with a little healer action so far. The bard and paladin were afterthoughts when I discovered the charisma-based cleric substitute. Warmage helped out the plan for a mercenary party because, truth be told, the name suggests a paramilitary group better than does sorcerer.

I will probably post more as I get to it. However, if I follow the stricture of creating a party for Red Hand of Doom, I will have a ranger in the party. I do not want to create a party optimized for Red Hand of Doom but ever since I heard about the adventure I have had the idea for a Ranger with goblinoids and dragons as his favored enemies.

Invisible Touch

The first of 3 posts tonight. I am holding nothing back.

I already discussed how I get ideas from songs. I may have even mentioned this particular idea but I could not find it in a cursory search.

Some time ago, I saw an anime music video featuring the song Invisible Touch by Phil Collins paired with scenes from Elfen Lied and Neon Genesis Evangelion (and perhaps others). Obviously, the video took the 'invisible touch' lyrics literally and added a creepy, gory turn by making such a touch capable of amputating, beheading, and disembowling people. Just as a note, I refer to scenes in anime featuring excessive blood, gore, and disfigurement (such as eyes bulging or limbs twisting unnaturally) as "psycho horror."

Well, based on the song I had a similar idea and the video reinforced and transformed it. It exists only as a kernel within my mind, a single scene. A young woman possesses an invisible touch. Her hand (and perhaps any or all of her body) can phase through flesh and living matter (and maybe other substances). She can manipulate the phasing to the point that she can, as the song details, reach in and grab right hold of your heart. It takes control and slowly tears you apart.

In my mind, she was horrified by her ability and reluctant to use it, at least at first. While the thought of killing someone by literally crushing his heart in her hand repulses her to no end, in this particular scene she is left with no choice. Perhaps I should actually set the scene.

This woman, wearing a skin-tight white jumpsuit with silver designs reminiscent of something sci-fi, kneels next to a fallen soldier. The soldier's helmet has an open visor that reveals an unconscious, perhaps injured man's face. The woman recognizes him as a former close relation, perhaps a brother or lover. Standing over the woman is another man in a Captain Power-esque sci-fi outfit. He scans the surrounding area, wary of approaching hostiles. The background echoes indistinct shouts of warning and alarm. He looks down at the woman, his compatriot, and realizes that the enemy soldier is her relation (whatever it may be). The feeling is that the two animate characters are rebels or infiltrators of some sort. Their plan has gone awry and it is time to leave. However, the soldier, if revived, would be able to identify them. With a pained urging, he says, "You know what's at stake." She is hesitant, agonizing over a choice that is no choice at all. Summoning her strength, she pulls off her gloves, revealing nothing where hands should be. The soldier's body shudders convulsively as she reaches into his chest and grabs hold of his heart. She can hear his heartbeat thundering in her ears as plain as she can feel it pumping in her hands. As she squeezes, the soldier's eyes snap open. He is unable to mount any real resistance, and the scene fades to black as his breath slips away.

That is the scene, more or less. More of an exercise in conflicted feelings between love and duty.

Stupid, sexy animals

I was reading the comic Goblins today and came across an old strip where children are calling each other names.

The first calls the second a tit mouse and the second counters with pussycat. Then the first comes back with penis monkey and tries to convince the other that "it's an animal." The absurdity of the statement is itself funny to me but the kicker comes in the next comic when, in the first panel, a goblin shares a story beginning, "so there I was, surrounded by penis monkeys ...".

The missing animal is, of course, the famous ball hog.

Elven Lies - Possession

I am watching Elfen Lied for the first time. I am about 3-4 minutes into the first episode, so if I happen to create something that is later revealed in the series I am not ripping it off.

The naked girl in the iron mask just backed the lone living guard into a corner and killed him off-camera. His blood ran down the edge of the wall. Then, a bloody handprint with no accompanying limb smeared against the wall and wrapped around a lever to open a door.

My quick idea: A form of possession where the spirit does not inhabit and animate the body but, rather, accompanies it. So, the invisible spirit floats along beside the possessed creature, whispering in its ear and doing its* bidding (perhaps based on telepathy, perhaps based on a combination of observation and great wisdom in reading people).

*This "its" can refer to both the possessed creature and the possessing spirit, depending on the temperment of the spirit. For example, a creature so possessed might find that the spirit does whatever the spirit wants, killing friends and loved ones and allowing all the blame to fall on its haunted host. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the spirit may do whatever the host wants, acting as the host's hands and feet. In such a case, what the host offers the spirit would need to be determined (feeding on his soul; trying to corrupt him by offering the great power the spirit possesses; etc).

Heartbeat Music

One of my old characters is a superhero I invented while in biology class. His super/mutant power is the ability to take total, conscious control of any of his bodily and cellular functions. His brain differs slightly from the human norm, allowing him to juggle the functions of his entire cellular make-up at once (although it required a lot of practice and plenty of concentration to go that far).

Because of this control, he is as much at the peak of human physical conditioning as Captain America (and maybe even moreso since his is not a simple baseline but a constantly updating, interactive machine).

That is enough for the backstory. Today's creative thought came about, once again, while I was listening to the radio on the way to work. Unlike my last, my current car radio has a dial for adjusting the bass. And songs such as Invisible Touch by Genesis and Rock Star by Nickelback (not sure if that is the real title) sound exceptionally well with the bass at a higher level than normal (but not maximum; I want to hear the music, not be bludgeoned by it).

I noticed how my body involuntarily moved along with the music (swaying, foot-tapping, etc) and I thought about my biological super-soldier having a similar but problematic reaction. While he was still learning to use his powers (he started with controlling entire organs and worked his way to specific intercellular functions), he found that he would subconsciously sync his heartbeat to the rhythm of music.

That would be freaky.

Backstory: The Tenchiverse

Backstory: I wanted this blog to be for new creations but I realize that most of my creative energies go into further exploring several recurrent characters, worlds, and ideas. Some of these recurrent ideas are personal. Oh well, I will just have to share it anyway. All of these recurrent ideas require me to rehash what I have already created in order for the new creations to make any sense (and I am lazy). Oh well, I will just have to type it. Besides, it may help me figure out something if I see my thought process in type.



Tenchi Muyo is my favorite anime. It was one of the first anime I ever watched and it hooked me immediately. After watching both movies and the OAVs, I started watching the TV show, Tenchi Universe, on DVD and Cartoon Network.

Part of the TV show centered on Tenchi and the gang going through various literary and TV show genres, such as 1920s mob crime or the Old West, and taking over the parts of stereotypical characters. I loved the fact that in each genre, a Tenchi character could play an appropriate part while still remaining wholly his or her own self. My brother and I referred to this as the Tenchiverse effect.

I utilize this effect with my own created characters, albeit in a slightly different manner. Each character remains himself in essence (personality and such) but the rules of the world change (the "real world" Eldric differs in capability from the "magic armor world" Eldric differs in capability from the "City of Dimension" Eldric, etc).

So if you see me reference the same character is seemingly contradictory ways, this may very well be why.

Quotable Quotes

This will be pretty short.

I have a book of quotes called Zingers. It is filled with short, one-line sayings for Christians, especially ministers for using in sermons. I pulled it out of the bookshelf one day a few months ago because my brother was culling quotes to use in D&D from a boardgame he bought (the game is full of quotes from all different cultures). I read Zingers with the same aim in mind. I must have stopped pretty early in the book because my notes from that day (remember how I mentioned I had a pile of scraps with notes?) only have three quotes:

1. "Those who would not walk in the dark are often found strolling in the shade." Light and darkness as metaphors for good and evil are ample in D&D and my campaign world is no exception. I can see a paladin saying this to the party rogue after he suggested a less-than-virtuous course of action.

2. "Glory is the shadow of virtue." Another paladin quote. Of course, as a book written for Christians, the source material is slanted in that direction.

3. "Steel loses its strength when it loses its temper." I believe I slightly rewrote this quote from the one in the book but the meaning remained the same. It is a dwarven warning to remain calm and not let anger get the best of one.


I decided to type this up for two reasons. One, I did not create anything at work today and two, I had a whole sheet of paper sitting around with just the three quotes written on it.

I am Invincible!

I had this idea months ago but the song played on the way to work so I will type it up now anyway.

I listened to the song Invincible by Pat Benetar and it brought to mind an alien planet torn by war and oppression. One alien race is subjugated to another, stronger race. An individual is trying to inspire a small group of disaffected peers to fight back. They have a legend about a hero called Invincible. No one believes Invincible is real because they ended up in this situation and he never appeared to help. This individual, however, believes he can renew the spirit of the people by fighting as the mythic Invincible.

Such a ploy would likely result in his quick death so the cooperative martyrdom of this group would be required to maintain the image of Invincible. He dies but another takes his place immediately, so Invincible remains so. And so on and so on until the war is won.Unbeknownst to this individual, his group, and his entire race, this exact ploy is how the original legend of Invincible was created long in the past.

Also, just to note, I love Pat Benetar.

Nothing Doing

I was away at my cousin's wedding Thursday through Saturday. Between visiting family and acting as familial labor (read: free and obligated semi-slavery), I had no time to create anything.

And today I had nothing come to me. I did, however, finish reading Heroes of Horror. The monsters were not inspiring to me. I did like the bane wraith but I disliked its ability to automatically know the names, appearances, and presumed locations of your loved ones without a saving throw. I thought I might use the dusk giant for the IH Asgard idea but they neither fit nor did they inspire me with interesting abilities.

I did have a bit of an idea for a corruption eater that lived symbiotically or parasitically with a humanoid. Corruption eaters have the ability to eat taint from creatures. If they eat enough (defined as gaining enough temporary hit points to put them above their normal maximum), they can spew a cloud of corruption that taints other creatures. Of course, in an easily manufactured situation, the corruption eater can subsist solely on one introduced point of taint in a willing human. Eating the one point of taint gives it enough reserve to spew a cloud that, if a save is failed, gives the human the one point of taint back. This can go on indefinitely. I suppose that counts as a kernel of an idea that can later be expanded.

Dream People part 2 - Birth Blisters

I had no time to sit and think at work today but I did think of something last night while lying in bed.

I was meditating on the dream people because I was trying to fall asleep and it seemed appropriate. I wondered how their reproduction progressed after the female was impregnated in the dream. For creatures that exist within two realms, I figured there would be two sorts of progression.

In the physical world, the child conceived through the dreamscape is present as a single cell possessing its unique DNA. How this comes about exactly was not detailed though I might come up with something later. The cell migrates from an ovary-like organ in the female's midsection towards her front abdomen. There, she possesses two distinct layers of skin (though each is made up of multiple layers of dermis) and the growing child passes through the interior layer to reside within the cavity between them. Various vessels and ducts within the inner layer of skin attach to the rapidly multiplying cells as the child migrates; these provide nutrients and remove waste just as the umbilical cord and blood vessels do in the placenta. As the child grows, the mother begins to "show" just as a human woman does. However, due to the nature of the outer skin layer, the pregnancy "hump" appears as a gigantic blister on her midsection. Towards the end of the pregnancy, the skin will stretch to the point that it becomes nearly transparent and the child can be seen. Birth then consists of the blister breaking open and the child being removed. This is not an unexpected occurrence as with human pregnancy (the water breaking) but a deliberate act on the part of the parents. The excess skin of the blister is removed and the underlying skin then heals to form the new outer layer, with a new inner layer forming internally after some amount of time. A dream person who has given birth is easily identified by the pattern encircling her abdomen, though how many births cannot be so gleaned.

The child exists in the dream world from the first moment of his conception. He appears as a tiny child who will grow beside his physical body and remain within the dream world until birth. Each night, his parents join him in the dream world to teach and nuture and love their child, just as they will for most of his young life. While within the dream world, a dream person has capabilities beyond those he possesses in the physical world and so the learning curve is much more gradual for their offspring. Because of this existence and teaching, dream children born into the physical world already know as much as a human pre-schooler and it takes them very little time to control their physical bodies as well as a much older human child, allowing them even the power of speech after only a few days (it also helps that a dream person's anatomy matures much more quickly than a human's; even if a situation were contrived to give a human infant the requisite knowledge and 'experience', the fact that the body has not matured to a point where certain activities are even physically possible retards progress).

Projects

Once again, moving a comment up:
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I have not yet written anything today due to a few crossword and word puzzles I scrounged up earlier. So, I will quickly detail the actual "projects" on which I am "working."

In a minute, apparently, as I have just been called back out of the breakroom.
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Well, I ended up being out of the breakroom until it was time to leave, so here I am at home. The best part about the following post, in my mind, is the amount of parenthetical comments. Commas and parentheses are two of my favorite and most often used punctuation marks.

These are the two projects, listed in order of current attention:

1. An Iron Heroes one-shot adventure or, more likely, short campaign set in Asgard and inspired by Frostburn, Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations, and the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The PCs are fallen viking warriors who have earned their places in Valhalla (each player will detail the final battle and heroic deeds that earned his character such an honor). An unknown evil sets in motion a plan to bring about Ragnarok. For some convoluted reason I have not yet divined, Odin sends the PCs to investigate and stop the plan. Besides awesome high-level Iron Heroes action (the minimum PC level I am entertaining is 10th, with 15th being a possibility) against such foes as frost giants, white dragons, ice ropers, [plural for remorhaz], and other foes (I plan for the final part to take place in Nifflheim; if it is a short campaign, I want to start elsewhere against non-ice enemies first), the setting itself will stand as an obstacle in their way (I both created my own frostfell terrain and am utilizing some of the hazards presented in Frostburn; I even created hazards that already existed in Frostburn with respect to flavor but with vastly different mechanics (since I was thinking of Iron Heroes and they were thinking of D&D heroes)).

While I do not have the villain's plan all figured out yet (I started with a cool idea and am trying to find a way to get the game there), I am thinking about including a fight with Thor as one of the final challenges. As I detail the plot, I have to restructure the vision (for example, I originally wanted the villain to try and kill Thor but then I decided he was trying to jumpstart Ragnarok and that requires Thor to be alive to play his part in the final battle; the villain's plan relies on Ragnarok progressing exactly as detailed in the prophecies).

2. This project has much less detail than the first because all my attention has been focused on the first. It started much the same way, with a cool idea. I wanted to create an adventure that featured a yuan-ti temple. Not a temple filled with yuan-ti but a temple built and used by yuan-ti. That would mean it was constructed to accommodate their serpentine physiques, with features such as ramps and poles and small circular doors meant for crawling/slithering. This all occurred to me prior to reading the yuan-ti entry in the Monster Manual that mentions just such achitectural features. As with the hazards in Frostburn, I find that I have a lot of ideas in common with others but developed independently (just because the snake features are logical extensions of the yuan-ti physical description does not rob me of the accomplishment of matching the brains of actual game designers).

The big villains of the yuan-ti temple would be the high priest (a half-dragon (black) yuan-ti abomination cleric I created as a villain when the 3.0 MM first came out; he wields a large greatsword and wears a headdress made from the skulls and spines of sacrificial victims) and, perhaps, a toned-down version of the anathema from the Fiend Folio (the anathema is like a giant yuan-ti abomination crossed with a hydra and given super psionic powers).

Again, this is just a cool idea that requires me to craft a story to get the adventure there. Obviously the yuan-ti are going to be doing something evil and rouse the ire and suspicion of the PCs. They investigate the temple deep in the jungle, they kill the high priest, and they put an end to the kidnappings and sacrifices.

I suppose a common thread amongst my adventure ideas is that I do not really put a common thread into my adventures. I do not design adventures around a continous story that weaves throughout the campaign. Instead, I get a cool idea and contrive a story to get the PCs there. I structure my ideas as one-shots so there is no need to put anything before or after the cool idea. The point of the adventure is to trudge through the strange and dangerous locales of Nifflheim or to battle into the heart of a yuan-ti temple to slay the half-dragon high priest before he completes his dark ritual rather than advancing some overarching campaign plot. I guess I read too many stand-alone modules.

Dream People

I am moving this from the comments section below to its own post. It explains why.
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I cannot access my blog's administrative functions from work due to the web filter. Ergo, I cannot add new posts. However, the stupid web filter does not block me from reading or commenting on my own blog so I can add content through comments and change them over to actual posts later.The following idea came about while reading the section on Dreams and Nightmares in Heroes of Horror.

Idea - A race of humanoids that are very closely connected to their dreams and the dream world. Through physical contact, they can enter another's dreamscape. If both are sleeping while in contact, they jointly create a dreamscape wherein neither is dominant to the other (entering another's dreamscape puts you somewhat under his control as it is his dream). This linking in the dreamscape is of utmost importance to their marital relation. Husband and wife spend, essentially, every waking and dreaming moment with each other. An intense bond of empathy and love develops from and is sustained by this daytime and dreamtime contact. Permission to sleep in physical proximity to one of these creatures is extended only to the most intimate of relations (best friends, family, and lovers) due to the nature of the emotional bonds created.

So powerful is this bond that, combined with the semi-reality of the dreamscape, the race procreates through dreams. In the physical world, they possess no external genitalia. Within the shared dreamscape of a husband and wife, however, the pair is able to reshape their bodies and mate. This act results in the female becoming impregnated in the physical world.These creatures, because they retain consciousness even while unconscious and in the dreamscape, would have radically different outlooks on life. They are highly learned and experienced as they get nearly if not truly a 24 hour day every day.

Victorian Horror Beast - Werewolves of London

I love to read and I always have a book that I am currently reading. Most of the time, that book is a "work book" - that is, it is a book I read at work when I have free time. What makes a work book different from any other book is that I tend to avoid reading my work book when I am not at work. This is for no particular reason other than it makes the book last longer because my available reading time is much shorter at work than at home.

My current work book is Heroes of Horror, a D&D supplement about utilizing horror in your game. I love horror and the grotesque, after the style of Dante, and I am thoroughly enjoying the book. Some of the examples are ripe for the picking (such as the jealous bard who is slitting the throats of other singers) and some inspire wildly different details (such as the one I will detail). The more technical explanations, such as the various types of horror villains and their typical motivations, are also of great use to me.

On to today's topic:

While reading through a selection of example plot lines, I had an idea that had little or nothing to do with the particular example I was reading (so much so that I have completely forgotten the example).

The scene: A Victorian town with subtle airs of steampunk. A young woman and bemoustached gentleman are chatting in a doorway at dusk. The clocktower bell sounds and a mixture of fear and alarm washes over their faces. The woman hurries inside the home while the man, gripping his cane in one hand and holding down his tophat with the other, makes all due haste down the street towards his own home as the clock continues to sound. Once inside, he takes the stairs two and three at a time, throwing his hat and cane aside as he ascends. The clock continues to sound. He lunges for his bedroom door just before the clocktower falls silent. The door automatically slams shut behind him and emits the unmistakable whirring of gears. He is now locked inside his room until the clocktower sounds the sunrise.

Why? Because a curse holds this town hostage. Each night, one member of the community transforms into a horrid beast that seeks nothing less than the final rest of all its fellows. Anyone failing to sequester himself within his locked and armored room is at the mercy of the bloodthirsty creature. Come the morning, the locks will disengage and life will return to normal for all but the poor soul who transformed. He will have to remove his damaged furniture and replace it.



Scenes such as the above are typical of my creations. There are many unanswered questions and, in fact, many variations of the same idea. I have thought of the same scenario taking place in space and in a mental hospital. I have thought of the poor people being locked away not only to protect themselves from the wandering beast, but also to prevent the beast from wandering in the first place (in the case that the beast possesses enough intelligence and dexterity to endanger its prey without physically touching them, such as setting fire to their homes or disengaging the airlock/damaging the life support systems of the ship).

And with that, my obligation for today's post is met.

The Five Ws

Who? - A roleplaying gamer and completely amateur rpg material designer. I am also an administrator of and irregular contributor to the Ptolus fansite Delver's Square.

What? - A blog wherein I can make a greater effort to transfer my poorly scrawled notes from scraps of paper to a more permanent, organized, easily edited, and shared format.

When? - From now into possible perpetuity.

Where? - Here.

Why? - I have literal stacks of papers, from folded packets of full sheets to torn scraps, bearing creative thoughts spilled from my head during work, school, or other activities outside my home. These notes only rarely find themselves collected, collated, edited, and typed into my computer. As such, they rarely find themselves elaborated upon and shared with others. I want to change that.

A note and pledge for myself - I only care to type one thing I have written each day. If I do not have the time or inspiration to create something during any particular day, I may not add anything to this blog or I may take an old note and post it. I do not have to elaborate upon my writing. If I were to promise that, it would be the deathblow for this blog because elaboration on my part is a tedious and often frustrating endeavour when I am not with my muse. However, as the existence of this blog is meant to format my ideas for easier elaboration, and as I am prone to even excessive amounts of elaboration when my muse strikes, I am not forbidden from inconsistently elaborating upon my writings.

A note for any readers - Know that I write here for myself, not for you. That being said, I love comments. I especially love questions.