Meet the spartans

[Amnestic]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

So if you had a low Appraise skill and the merchant had a high Bluff skill, he could sell you 3,000 GP worth of Diamonds for 5,000 GP and your Resurrection spell wouldn't work?

I'll be making a mental note of that. That's not a bad way to start a new questline.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

i dont get it. whats meet the spartans? anything to do with 300?

Nothing at all. Forget you ever heard of it. It will be for the best.

 

[Calatar]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

I love this derailment. Already a lot funnier than the topic movie. DnD and economics don't mix guyz. If it did, think of what would happen to the value of gold when a Great Wyrm dragon is killed and adventurers start spending the loot? SUDDENLY hundreds of thousands of gold appears. Why if not for dragons taking all the gold out of circulation in the first place think of what would happen to its value!

Somewhat OT: DISASTER MOVIE. GOD DAMN. I was at my girlfriend's house and apparently her dad had rented it and put it on in the same room as we were in. She said "I have to go to the bathroom" and left me in there. 10 minutes later I realized that she lied, and just got up and left me there to suffer through it. Possibly the cruelest thing she's done to me.
You know how something funny can be unfunny if its too over the top? And something unfunny can be funny its so bad? This went all the way through twice. Funny->unfunny->funny->unfunny. I sometimes had wondered what the worst movie in the world would be like, and now I know. It has taught me what an IMDB rating of less than 2 really looks like.
You know what's even worse? Her dad forgot that he had watched it and REWATCHED IT. FUCK.

 

[Calatar]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

So if you had a low Appraise skill and the merchant had a high Bluff skill, he could sell you 3,000 GP worth of Diamonds for 5,000 GP and your Resurrection spell wouldn't work?

I'll be making a mental note of that. That's not a bad way to start a new questline.

My evil-DM sense is tingling.

 

[Balaxe]

I'd rather jam forks in my eyes

Truer words never spoken. I always carry around two forks incase I have to watch a horrible movie.

 

[Amnestic]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

So if you had a low Appraise skill and the merchant had a high Bluff skill, he could sell you 3,000 GP worth of Diamonds for 5,000 GP and your Resurrection spell wouldn't work?

I'll be making a mental note of that. That's not a bad way to start a new questline.

My evil-DM sense is tingling.

Chaotic Good I'll have you know. I just double dip into Lawful Evil every now and again. I'm an equal opportunity DM.

Of course the downside to this plan would be that if they're casting a Resurrection spell, it'd likely be on a party member and cutting the party member out of the game while they go on a jolly romp after that bastard merchant who ripped them off for diamonds doesn't lead to a good experience for the guy who died.

I suppose if I linked it into a quest where someone is asking the party to cast a Resurrection spell on a dead NPC it could work.

Hmm, will have to give it some thought.

 

[Summerstorm]

It is one of the worst, horrible attempts to insult me. And no, i didn't pay for it, watched it on DVD (Another payed for it). Really... it was one of the worst movies i have ever seen (And i have seen a lot and normaly i am VERY realistic about quality). It is just so bold with its message: "We don't care about you, don't want to tell you a story or make you laugh... we just want to tell you: We threw this together in about five hours, and if you like it and pay for it you are an complete idiot (And we buy a new house with your cash and laugh about YOU)"

Really.. DO NOT WATCH IT.

 

[jonnosferatu]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

I love this derailment. Already a lot funnier than the topic movie. DnD and economics don't mix guyz. If it did, think of what would happen to the value of gold when a Great Wyrm dragon is killed and adventurers start spending the loot? SUDDENLY hundreds of thousands of gold appears. Why if not for dragons taking all the gold out of circulation in the first place think of what would happen to its value!

You may have noticed that my workaround is basically "A Wizard Did It." Econ and D&D definitely don't mix, at least in RAW 3.5 (RAW 4E makes it easier, but w/e - I do gold values etc. myself).

 

[Calatar]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

So if you had a low Appraise skill and the merchant had a high Bluff skill, he could sell you 3,000 GP worth of Diamonds for 5,000 GP and your Resurrection spell wouldn't work?

I'll be making a mental note of that. That's not a bad way to start a new questline.

My evil-DM sense is tingling.

Chaotic Good I'll have you know. I just double dip into Lawful Evil every now and again. I'm an equal opportunity DM.

Of course the downside to this plan would be that if they're casting a Resurrection spell, it'd likely be on a party member and cutting the party member out of the game while they go on a jolly romp after that bastard merchant who ripped them off for diamonds doesn't lead to a good experience for the guy who died.

I suppose if I linked it into a quest where someone is asking the party to cast a Resurrection spell on a dead NPC it could work.

Hmm, will have to give it some thought.

Or you could have it be a corrupted magic diamond which changes the result of Resurrection from "brings friend back to life" to "brings friend back to life but cursed with penalties" or even "makes friend UNDEAD?!" but similarly with moderate penalties, such that the character is capable of playing, but still somewhat penalized until the quest is resolved (curse goes away once party kills/captures mischievous merchant). This would:
a. Give the player his dead character back
b. Keep the player active in the game
c. Penalize the player for dying, but in a non-permanent and somewhat fun way (especially if they get their money back)

This does transform the adventure from a chase the mundane-merchant into whatever magical mystery you please. Perhaps the "merchant" can attempt to control the dead character's actions somehow, resulting in dramatic Will-saves to prevent him from attacking the party.

 

[jonnosferatu]

Couldn't a high Appraise and Bluff skill allow you to somewhat circumvent those permanent values though?

Only to another human. Magic is governed by the aforementioned intelligence, which sees right through your attempts to bluff, and Appraise is your ability to figure out what that intelligence says the item is worth.

So if you had a low Appraise skill and the merchant had a high Bluff skill, he could sell you 3,000 GP worth of Diamonds for 5,000 GP and your Resurrection spell wouldn't work?

I'll be making a mental note of that. That's not a bad way to start a new questline.

Correct, though failure to let your players torture him to death with pieces of his own skeleton would be an asshole move. Make sure the dead character was either an NPC or controlled by someone who is now either absent or controlling someone else.

Frankly, I don't recommend this as a campaign arc even if you can get both of those working. A small portion of a quest, or perhaps a sidequest, but nothing that will last long enough for the players to really stew over the fact that you haven't let them kill the bastard yet (note that there is, unfortunately, a fine line between that and making the chase both long and interesting enough that they get the full enjoyment out of dismembering him [or at least getting their money back, plus some extras]).

 

[Beartrucci]

Think of it as "Epic Movie 2", with other genres and weird crap thrown in by the writers.

Definitely not going. If there's anything I learned from forking out money for Scary Movie 4...

I heard that Meet The Spartans was supposed to be called Epic Movie 2, but because Epic movie was so crap and got such negative feedback they had to call it something else.

 

[Amnestic]

Correct, though failure to let your players torture him to death with pieces of his own skeleton would be an asshole move. Make sure the dead character was either an NPC or controlled by someone who is now either absent or controlling someone else.

Frankly, I don't recommend this as a campaign arc even if you can get both of those working. A small portion of a quest, or perhaps a sidequest, but nothing that will last long enough for the players to really stew over the fact that you haven't let them kill the bastard yet (note that there is, unfortunately, a fine line between that and making the chase both long and interesting enough that they get the full enjoyment out of dismembering him [or at least getting their money back, plus some extras]).

Yeah, sidequest seems like the best choice for this.

And monetary funds aren't a big issue when they'll be killing him, getting all their money back plus whatever magical items he has plus a few choice ingredients from his shop. Within reason, of course.

Or you could have it be a corrupted magic diamond which changes the result of Resurrection from "brings friend back to life" to "brings friend back to life but cursed with penalties" or even "makes friend UNDEAD?!" but similarly with moderate penalties, such that the character is capable of playing, but still somewhat penalized until the quest is resolved (curse goes away once party kills/captures mischievous merchant). This would:
a. Give the player his dead character back
b. Keep the player active in the game
c. Penalize the player for dying, but in a non-permanent and somewhat fun way (especially if they get their money back)

This does transform the adventure from a chase the mundane-merchant into whatever magical mystery you please. Perhaps the "merchant" can attempt to control the dead character's actions somehow, resulting in dramatic Will-saves to prevent him from attacking the party.

Not bad ideas, though resurrected people lose a level (or 2 constitution points if they're 1st level) which is a penalty anyway. Good plans though all around, will definetly consider encorporating them in one form or another in my games in the future.

 

[Kud]

i watched scary movie 4.

never watched another one of those movies after that.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I don't care anymore. I gave up on hollywood a long time ago.

 

[jonnosferatu]

Yeah, sidequest seems like the best choice for this.

And monetary funds aren't a big issue when they'll be killing him, getting all their money back plus whatever magical items he has plus a few choice ingredients from his shop. Within reason, of course.

I'm a fan of having some kind of moral choice component to things, so you may want to make actually killing the guy somewhat optional. This way you can also bring him back later as some kind of economic assistant to or representative for the Big Bad.