Dump Stats and Roleplaying

[Spirit of a Phoenix]

Dec 1, 2014 11:09:37 GMT -5 Razgriz said:

20+ Kiki. (But her hair is still alright)

After a minor correction, I completely agree.

[Pedantry INC]

Here's a bigger breakdown of that for ya Merc:

Mar 25, 2014 20:18:37 GMT -5 Pedantry INC said:

Ability Scores

Once a player character's six ability scores have been established, it's time to introduce the Player's Option concept of sub-abilities. Each standard ability score - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma - is divided into two sub-abilities. These are more specific definitions of what makes up a character. For example, a character's Strength score is divided into the sub-abilities of Stamina, which reflects being able to physically exert oneself over a period of time, and Muscle, which measures the raw power needed to force open locked doors or overturn banquet tables.

To determine a character's sub-abilities, simply double the score of the parent ability and divide that total between the sub-abilities. The scores for the two sub-abilities must be within four points of each other. Only whole numbers are allowed, no sub-ability score can be lower than 3, and with the exception of strength - no sub-ability score can be higher than 18. Racial modifiers to ability scores are also exceptions to this rule.


+ Strength

The sub-abilities derived from a character's Strength score are Stamina and Muscle, and these are the only sub-abilities that can have scores higher than 18 - provided the character is a fighter. Such characters can have exceptional sub-ability scores, just as they can have exceptional Strength scores.

- Stamina

The stamina sub-ability score determines muscle efficiency. A character with a Stamina score higher than his Muscle score may not have masses of huge muscles, but the muscles he has will be rock hard. Characters like these may surprise others - not because they can lift four hay bales at once, but because they can lift one or two at a time for 10 hours straight.

Contributes to: Weight Allowance. Sprinting. Resisting Fatigue.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Blacksmithing, swimming, carpentry, stonemasrony.
When rolled: This sub-ability is used to ascertain a character's physical exertion over a period of time. Sample opportunities to call for Stamina checks include a character holding a heavy weight or propping up a collapsing ceiling. When a charterer is in pursuit of an NPC or monster that has the same movement rate, the Stamina check determines who will tire first. Other checks could involve long-term physical exertion such as swimming vast distances, defending the castle walls from attackers over the course of hours or days, or staying awake long enough to memorize spells for the next day after a long day of adventuring.

- Muscle

The Muscle sub-ability measures the sheer power a character can exert at a moment's notice. A character with a Muscle score higher than his Stamina score will look quite strong. Males will have buldging biceps, broad chests, and wide shoulders. While females don't generate the muscle mass of males, they will have well-defined, strongly toned forms.

Contributes to: Attack adjustment. Damage Adjustment. Maximum Press (weight lifted over head). Open doors (forcing open stuck/locked doors). Bend bars/lift gates.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Jumping.
When rolled: Times to call for Muscle checks include when characters try to pick up heavy objects, leap chasms, arm wrestle, and display feats of strength.


+ Dexterity

This ability score is divided into the sub-abilities of Aim, which represents hand-eye coordination and manual acuity, and Balance, which denotes reflexes and overall agility.

- Aim

A character with a high Aim score might be an expert marksman or a slight-of-hand artist.

Contributes to: Missle Adjustment. Pick pockets. Open locks.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Juggling, cobbling, pottery, rope use, seamstress/tailor, musical instrument, forgery, and gemcutting.
When Rolled: Potential times to use Aim checks include when characters enter games of skill such as darts; when they try sleight-of-hand maneuvers; and when they try to catch things thrown at them such as balls, coins, or books.

- Balance

A character possessing a high Balance score may be an acrobat or a tightrope walker.

Contributes to: Reaction adjustment (when a character is surprised). Defensive adjustment (reflex saves). Move silently. Climb walls.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Tumbling, dancing, seamanship, tightrope walking, charioteering.
When rolled: Balance checks can be called for when a character walks along a narrow ledge to reach a window, when he flees across a rope bridge, while trying to avoid attackers' missile weapons, and when he catches a hand-hold after an enemy damages that rope bridge and causes it to collapse.


+ Constitution

Constitution is divided into the sub-abilities of Health, which is a measurement of a character's ability to resist diseases and other hardships, and Fitness, which indicates overall physical condition and the character's ability to endure punishment.


- Health

A character with a high Health score would seldom get sick and be little affected by allgeries and other ailments.

Contributes to: System Shock (surviving severe shock like petrification, magical aging, etc). Poison saves.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Running.
When rolled: Health checks can be used to determine a character's resistance to a disease, and to find out if a character catches the flue going around the kingdom. They also determine a character's resistance to intoxicants, drugs, or poisons.

- Fitness

A character with a high Fitness score has great endurance and can suffer more damage than other characters while continuing to function.

Contributes to: Hit point adjustment. Resurrection chance.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Endurance.
When rolled: Fitness checks can be used to gauge an adventurer's resistance to longer-term hardships such as forced marches, food or water deprivation, and non-lethal torture.


+ Intelligence

This becomes the sub-abilities of Reason, which measures a character's capacity for learning and deduction, and Knowledge, which shows a general level of education, experience, and the ability to remember information.

- Reason

This ability defines how well a character handles new information. A character with a high Reason score would be good at solving riddles and puzzles, and would be talented at using deductive, logical thinking.

Contributes to: Spell Level. Max # of spells. Spell immunity (resistance to illusions).
Related skills/proficiency examples: engineering, navigation, armorer, weaponsmithing, spellcraft, and astrology.
When rolled: Good times to call for Reason checks include when a character is searching for clues at the scene of a crime, when someone is trying to learn new information, or when a character is attempting to read a code or decipher a cryptic message.

- Knowledge

This score is a measurement of the character's educational experiences - whether in a school or on the streets. His grasp of languages and his memory capacity. A charterer with a high Knowledge score can speak many languages, knows something about several subjects, and can remember the slightest detail of a past event.

Contributes to: Bonus # proficiencies. % to learn new spells (how easily they learn new spells).
Related skills/proficiency examples: ancient and local history, languages, reading/writing.
When rolled: Knowledge checks can be used when characters try to understand a strange language or recall bits of information they have seemingly forgotten.


+ Wisdom

Wisdom is divided into the sub-abilities of Intuition - which determines the character's awareness of his surroundings, grasp of a situation, and understanding of other people, and Willpower - which measures the character's strength of will and commitment.

- Intuition

A character with a high intuition score likely would be very perceptive and good at making educated guesses, and would be difficult to fool or lie to effectively.

Contributes to: Bonus spells. % Spell failure.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Tracking, artistic ability, healing, direction sense, weather sense, religion, and hunting.
When rolled: These checks are called for when adventurers think they are being followed, that their NPC friend is acting strangely, or when someone attempts to con them.

- Willpower

This score gauges a character's strength of will, ability to resist magical forces, and sense of commitment to a cause. A character with a high Willpower would be difficult to harm with mind-affecting magic spells, could be quite stubborn, and would resist interrogation.

Contributes to: Magic defense adjustment. Spell immunity (resiting mind effecting spells).
Related skills/proficiency examples: Animal handling, animal training, riding. Sense motive.
Rolled when: Willpower checks are needed when a character's force of will is challenged, such as when he is offered a bribe, is interrogated, or is blackmailed. Other possibilities include when a character tries to persuade an NPC about an important issue or point, or when a character is tortured to surrender valuable information.


+ Charisma

Charisma is split into the sub-abilities of Leadership, which measures forcefulness of personality and how willing others are to follow the character's lead, and Appearance, which gauges physical attractiveness, presence, and poise.

- Leadership

A character with a high Leadership often may be a group's leader, or at least its spokesman. Generals and those who can calm or incite a mob with a few words all have good Leadership scores.

Contributes to: Loyalty base. Max # of henchmen.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Gaming and etiquette.
When rolled: Situations calling for Leadership checks include when an adventurer leads NPCs into battle, when one adventurer asks a favor of another, or when a character attempts to instill a belief or attitude into a crowd or mob.

- Appearance

This determines the physical presence and attractiveness of the character. A character with a high Appearance score would be handsome or beautiful, perhaps even famous for outstanding looks (such as Helen of Troy).

Contributes to: Reaction adjustment.
Related skills/proficiency examples: Singing, dancing, disguise.
Rolled when: Appearance checks can be used in social circumstances where the involved character has no established reputation. Or the checks might determine if an NPC becomes romantically interested in the character.

[goldenhearts]

Some factors tend to make a difference to what an average is for a stat. So, a Elf has -2 con making 8 an average for them. A Dwarf has -2 Cha making 8 an average to them. Humans, average is usually 10. As they don't get a plus or minus on any stat. That being said, the Dwarf is not ugly, nor crude to his own race, just to others due to the 8. Where as the Elf may seem frail, but in her/his race it is simply normal. Below those numbers, is less than average. Of course, many may argue that 10 is not truly average.

Edit= I meant to join this thread 2 years ago, but I forgot and came late...2 years late!

[Syd's Blue Sky]

Merc, you forgot 30+ being Card.

[Razgriz]

Dec 1, 2014 15:59:28 GMT -5 Syd's Blue Sky said:

Merc, you forgot 30+ being Card.

Well sure, but does he have 30 CHA base? (no magic gear)

[magocracy]

<quote>It is perfectly fine to have a flawed character. Some of the best characters on our server have one or even two abilities below 10. </quote>

Just going back to this line that caught me at the beginning of the thread.. In a pen and paper game I used to play, the GM would require every character to have one minimum stat, or another flaw of some kind (a particular fear for example.)

Obviously that couldn't happen here and not suggesting it, but I think there's something to the idea of nudging people towards playing flawed characters instead of perfect beings who do everything great.

[...]

Personally, the flaws in a character are usually the most important/fun part to play and to see in others. I have plenty of respect for someone if they have one or two dump stats.. just as long as they actually portray them in the Roleplay.

[appleseedy]

i would like to see an 8 charisma person simply not talking and just stading around. loud mouthed/insulting/socially inept etc may infact represent high charisma. Some one who has high charisma isnt actually a very nice person they just have the ability to charm/persuade/manipulate/lead. think accountant who doesnt break the mold - boring predictable unoticeable. Just wanted to add teh concept that high/low charisam is not not equivelant to nice/nasty its more about boring/interesting.

Interesting personality quirks which attract attention are much more likely to be high charisma people than low imo

[...]

Yep, good real life examples of people with high charisma are Jimmy Savile and Nigel Farage. The word charismatic is often attributed to these two yet they're absolutely vile, lol.

[arisnorman1]

Adolf Hitler woulda been one to. Wicked as can be but im sure he coulda charmed anyone out of anything in person.

[DOT]

Dec 1, 2014 11:09:37 GMT -5 Razgriz said:

Jun 26, 2012 4:49:27 GMT -5 Pedantry INC said:

A system used in second ed allowed you to break down your stats;

Any stat could be split into two factors, these factors could be left even, or shifted, one down, one up, to a maximum of two up, and two down.

IE: Charisma broke into appearance and leadership.

If you had 10 charisma you could consider if your character was all around even in his appearance and leadership skills, or if he was better at say, telling people what to do, but say, had an ugly scar and ratty hair, you could make him have 10 CHA (9apperance, 11 leadership). If he a more commanding presence, and say, had scraggle teeth and warts on his hands, he could have 10 CHA (8 appearance, 12 leadership)

Alternatively, if he was prone to following and not much of a decision maker, but had stunning blue eyes and a winning smile he could have 10 CHA (12 Appearance, 8 leadership).

Every stat was capable of breaking down that way.

I break down most of my character mental stats that way and apply them, it gives me more variables for their personality and actions in play. Sometimes the physical ones as well.

*Raises dead*

So then for CHA...

8 Bad looks and poor social graces. Or better than average looks but terrible social graces. I think we have many 12-4s here!
9 Somewhat better than 8.
10 Perfectly average, or maybe better at one or the other.
11 Slightly better than 10.
(+1) 12 Above average.
13 Same, perhaps a small bonus in looks, personality or leadership.
(+2) 14 Overal positive numbers in most CHA related traits. Or a bigger bonus in one.
15 Slightly better than 14.
(+3) 16 Outstanding in most CHA related traits.
17 Slightly better than 16.
(+4) 18 Outstanding in virtually any CHA related traits.
19 Slightly better than 18.
20+ Kiki. (But her hair is still alright)

I'm alright with people rping charismatic with an 8 cha. I don't like it, but I'm alright with it. That said, RL doesnt always translate well to IG. Methinks as far as stats and stat dumping goes, it can be considered a disservice if one doesnt rp said stats properly.

To me people like Alexander the Great and other more notorious figures in history would have a high charisma; even the most hated of people would have some form of charisma (and not a low one at that). Low charisma to me is someone socially inept with the verbal, physical, etc graces of a rock... or a lamp. 8 to me is both physical appearance and the nonphysical traits of a character that fill in the lower end of both those spectrums, not a 'better than average looks' but 'poor personality'.

For perspective, replace 'charisma' in my statement with 'intelligence'... dumb is dumb with a 8 int and their is no saving mental faculty to it... but cha seems to have a two-sided face for it even when it's low, I attribute that to perhaps personal vanity of a player (nothing wrong with that ... just look at the ig racial distribution, not too many popeye looking gnomes aye?)

People cant have their cake and eat it to... but that seems to be occurring anyway; imho there are good examples of IG characters with low stats in several abilities, however I'm more inclined to believe its for a mechanical advantage rather than starting out from an rp reason.

It's not my place to tell folk how to rp their stats, but thats just how I feel. That said, it is what it is and I'll rp with who ever I can get (that's not to say there won't be a ic reason for a char to avoid another char ).

RP on folks!

[iangallowglas]

Charisma is probably the most misused of the stats, IMO.

I would guess that there are characters that are leaders in one way or another, and based on their CHA score (8 or 10) probably shouldn't be. I have felt for some time now, that in order to start a guild, the leader should have a minimum 14 CHA. Subsequent leaders should also be required to have a 14 CHA. In order to be somewhat flexible, I would allow a leader to use magic items to compensate to some degree for a low CHA (bring it up to 14), since magic items influence stats/skills in NWN. But the character would always have to wear their CHA items, until the base CHA score was raised to 14 through ability bumps.

I think this would also help to minimize CHA dump stating, and be easy for the DM team to supervise.

If you don't play a leader type, then CHA dumping doesn't matter much, IMO.

P.S. I have no idea what the CHA scores of the guild leaders happen to be, and it doesn't matter since what I wrote above isn't a rule, it's just my opinion.

[Kiyohime 🐍]

You don't need a high CHA to be a good leader. Maybe people follow you for your intellect or your wisdom.

[DM Grizwald]

Dec 27, 2014 18:59:48 GMT -5 Kiyohime 🐍 said:

You don't need a high CHA to be a good leader. Maybe people follow you for your intellect or your wisdom.

I hate to get off topic but I always felt that intellect and wisdom always proved for a character to be a better advisor. Charisma is what would really make a good leader. Actually, a balance of all skills would make a good leader. A good leader would require high Char but also good wisdom, and good intel. No matter how much someone would inspire, he also needs to make sense and make proper decisions. Someone with low char, high intel and high wisdom wouldn't have the social skills/inspirational skills to lead.

[Lady Frost]

Dec 27, 2014 18:47:32 GMT -5 iangallowglas said:

Charisma is probably the most misused of the stats, IMO.

I would guess that there are characters that are leaders in one way or another, and based on their CHA score (8 or 10) probably shouldn't be. I have felt for some time now, that in order to start a guild, the leader should have a minimum 14 CHA. Subsequent leaders should also be required to have a 14 CHA. In order to be somewhat flexible, I would allow a leader to use magic items to compensate to some degree for a low CHA (bring it up to 14), since magic items influence stats/skills in NWN. But the character would always have to wear their CHA items, until the base CHA score was raised to 14 through ability bumps.

I think this would also help to minimize CHA dump stating, and be easy for the DM team to supervise.

If you don't play a leader type, then CHA dumping doesn't matter much, IMO.

P.S. I have no idea what the CHA scores of the guild leaders happen to be, and it doesn't matter since what I wrote above isn't a rule, it's just my opinion.

I agree with the idea behind this. However, I think it depends on the type of leader they are. I'd agree with DM's analyzing a PC trying to start a guild to make sure it's appropriate in whatever fashion they're going for.

For example, some guild leaders are the actual leadership and face of the guild. The entire guild looks to them for leadership and a path of cohesion. Others control a few members who then control lesser ranks and may not require some of that overall charismatic spark that ruling a large mass might imply. Zoe for example, only has 13 base CHA (which is boosted about 75% of the time) but she has 12 or 13 INT and lots of WIS, on top of huge persuade.

So, like I said, while I may not agree with a simple CHA check, I do agree that ability and skill scores should be compared to what a PC has planned for a guild. Or maybe those skills don't directly affect the players ability to start a guild but affects the NPC representation that they may control. Just thoughts...

[appleseedy]

all that aside if you don't have the ability to inspire people in real life (as has been mentioned before) your high charisma score in game isn't going to help you much. vice versa, if you do have the ability to lead and inspire people in RL your probably going to do it anyway despite playing a dwarf with 6 charisma. Charisma is about how much notice you attract and how people respond to the way you speak and act.

One of the most noticeable characters i played with was a crippled half Orc barbarian with a presumed charisma of 6. His emotes were of such quality that he redirected all the attention towards himself without actually speaking. You can't fake low charisma and such players tend to be the leaders whatever they do, we probably shouldn't attempt to curtail their RP.

[Sapphire]

As a relatively new player in FRC, am somewhat annoyed to find such poor RP. Two events of this in only the last week by 2 different players... First one last weekend when a DM arrange a little event with an invasion by Sea Hags at GreatGaunt.. Over all it was a fun event that ran for around half an hour.. But totally spoiled by one persons lack of RP in virtually shouting " DM I need help" Having been slain by a water elemental drown attack. No attempt to RP the death just an insistence from the player to rez/heal him... Even prompting me to tell him as an ooc: message " // try RP'ing your death instead and perhaps the DM will arrange what you ask for //" This is appalling on a RP server, a good number of years ago I was a DM on an RP server and if anyone had done similar to this such a player was told either RP or respawn at your own costs to your character for the lack of RP.

The 2nd incident was just last night... Yet another Barbarian type half-orc RP'ing as if he had an INT base score of at least 14... Apart from that my character ended up by tree behind this Amazingly intelligent Half-Orc (NOT) ... Where I emoted my character along the lines of this... *Emma moves away holding her nose to avoid the smell as the half-orc breaks wind* The response from this half-orc did not make any sense what so ever and just showed a total lack of RP ability ... The response was ... an emote as follows ; *Did not break wind* first off how the hell is that an emote ? I do wish DM's would look very closely at these sort of player characters not playing their race traits and/or their base stats... Particularly when it is obviously clear that these characters have merely min/maxed stats to hit as hard as possible and think their poor attempts at basic RP will cover those stats they chose to minimize like INT and still their characters talk in perfect English with words that contain more than 2 syllables.

Sorry this turned into a bit more of a rant than intended, but I do believe it is important to point these things out..

[bloodalchemist]

Question on your rant saphire, how exactly do you know the second character is min maxed? Have you traveled witht hem before? Have they told you their stats? Or have you checked their account? Seriously, i understand getting a bit miffed at the first example, but on the second, that just sounds like you want to be able to have a distaste for someones characters and rp about them as you see fit. Is it in their char description that they stink or something?

The big problem with critiquing any rp is you dont exist in a vacuum. no one is a flawless example of rp perfection -ever-. some people just have off days and want to play a game, run around and have fun. or maybe they're tired and things can get a bit sloppy. Jumping down someones throat over how they rp their stats (still not sure how exactly you would know they min max) Maybe calm down a tad and get off your high horse. If someone is using a lot of ooc, talk to a player advocate if you dont feel comfortable offering a suggestion to the player directly.

[Kiyohime 🐍]

Blood Alchemist makes some fine observations.

Also, lets not forget some people's rp skills might be "limited" considering we have many players that don't have english as their first language.

(Myself included.)

We have had some new players joining the server lately and, maybe, some of them are new to rping too (might be the case of your 1st example).

The best advice I can give you Sapphire is this:

Chill the *bleep-itty-bleep* out.

[docofmadness]

i second and third miss kitty's motion. all i favor of just chillen the duck out say aye

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2015 14:02:42 GMT -5 Sapphire said:

The 2nd incident was just last night... Yet another Barbarian type half-orc RP'ing as if he had an INT base score of at least 14... Apart from that my character ended up by tree behind this Amazingly intelligent Half-Orc (NOT) ... Where I emoted my character along the lines of this... *Emma moves away holding her nose to avoid the smell as the half-orc breaks wind* The response from this half-orc did not make any sense what so ever and just showed a total lack of RP ability ... The response was ... an emote as follows ; *Did not break wind* first off how the hell is that an emote ? I do wish DM's would look very closely at these sort of player characters not playing their race traits and/or their base stats... Particularly when it is obviously clear that these characters have merely min/maxed stats to hit as hard as possible and think their poor attempts at basic RP will cover those stats they chose to minimize like INT and still their characters talk in perfect English with words that contain more than 2 syllables.

Don't emote for other folk...How'd you see their sheet? I need that Mod too.

[Sapphire]

Jan 16, 2015 14:34:43 GMT -5 bloodalchemist said:

Question on your rant saphire, how exactly do you know the second character is min maxed? Have you traveled witht hem before? Have they told you their stats? Or have you checked their account? Seriously, i understand getting a bit miffed at the first example, but on the second, that just sounds like you want to be able to have a distaste for someones characters and rp about them as you see fit. Is it in their char description that they stink or something?

The big problem with critiquing any rp is you dont exist in a vacuum. no one is a flawless example of rp perfection -ever-. some people just have off days and want to play a game, run around and have fun. or maybe they're tired and things can get a bit sloppy. Jumping down someones throat over how they rp their stats (still not sure how exactly you would know they min max) Maybe calm down a tad and get off your high horse. If someone is using a lot of ooc, talk to a player advocate if you dont feel comfortable offering a suggestion to the player directly.

Not hard to work out when you see this character smack a few creatures down with a non critical hit of 70 and 80 + damage that STR is pumped to maximum... I might have high horse standards as you put it but I find it hard to understand why I am under such scrutiny just because I want to take a PRC class and people like this can get away with lack RP values to suit themselves and play the NWN engine for all its flaws.  But hey I still play and play it to the best of my abilities RP wise as well..  I wasn't trying to force RP on that half-orc it was just my characters reaction I emoted for her if he had ignored it totally I would not have bothered bringing here..  But common sense to everyone am sure is you can not emote "Did not break wind" it is simply not even an emote.

I mean really come on, its not hard to come up with a response to rebuff my emote... If the roles where reversed I would have replied along the lines thus *sniffs the air and looks accusingly at the human standing near by*  Thus that deflects the claimed emote my character made in the first place...  

[Fenix]

Jan 16, 2015 19:00:47 GMT -5 Sapphire said:

Jan 16, 2015 14:34:43 GMT -5 bloodalchemist said:

Question on your rant saphire, how exactly do you know the second character is min maxed? Have you traveled witht hem before? Have they told you their stats? Or have you checked their account? Seriously, i understand getting a bit miffed at the first example, but on the second, that just sounds like you want to be able to have a distaste for someones characters and rp about them as you see fit. Is it in their char description that they stink or something?

The big problem with critiquing any rp is you dont exist in a vacuum. no one is a flawless example of rp perfection -ever-. some people just have off days and want to play a game, run around and have fun. or maybe they're tired and things can get a bit sloppy. Jumping down someones throat over how they rp their stats (still not sure how exactly you would know they min max) Maybe calm down a tad and get off your high horse. If someone is using a lot of ooc, talk to a player advocate if you dont feel comfortable offering a suggestion to the player directly.

Not hard to work out when you see this character smack a few creatures down with a non critical hit of 70 and 80 + damage that STR is pumped to maximum... I might have high horse standards as you put it but I find it hard to understand why I am under such scrutiny just because I want to take a PRC class and people like this can get away with lack RP values to suit themselves and play the NWN engine for all its flaws.  But hey I still play and play it to the best of my abilities RP wise as well..  I wasn't trying to force RP on that half-orc it was just my characters reaction I emoted for her if he had ignored it totally I would not have bothered bringing here..  But common sense to everyone am sure is you can not emote "Did not break wind" it is simply not even an emote.

I mean really come on, its not hard to come up with a response to rebuff my emote... If the roles where reversed I would have replied along the lines thus *sniffs the air and looks accusingly at the human standing near by*  Thus that deflects the claimed emote my character made in the first place...  

Now, see, what youre doing here is being hella elitist. Because right now youre deciding that someone should RP a specific way based on your standards of roleplay. For one, its not hard to have a character be built to hit 70-80 damage. I could do it with a mage no problem. I can do it with most FIGHTERS no problem. You dont need max strength to do so, because even at 18 STR thats +4 to your damage roll. Two, if theyre powerbuilt, theyd be a high con, high str, mid dex, low int low wis, low cha. Do you know their stats? No, probably not. You're presumably making assumptions on their build second hand. Theres nothing wrong with building a specific way either, so long as they roleplay out their stats. My character is powerbuilt as much as he can be, and I roleplay each of his stats perfectly fine. That said, my character is still one of the weakest on the server, but still gets to have very rich and rewarding roleplay. I can walk out and crit a few creatures for a hundred or so damage with a good hit and kill them easy, or dispell mages with no problem all the way up to 9th level spells. And I will roleplay every aspect of that.

Don't start scrutinizing others roleplay based on your standard, because I promise it really will be returned. People are unforgiving. Did you contact the player? Did you speak to them personally? Or did you just go into an open forum to declare their RP as pathetic in one way or another based on your high quality standards? Perhaps theres more going on with the character than you initially saw to understand. Perhaps they felt you were rude on an OOC level somewhere, which I could understand, and chose to ignore your roleplay.

Judging someone else to be a "shitty roleplayer" is a good way to get yourself judged worse, especially when -everybody- will be observing you for the purposes of aquiring a PRC (Shifter or Shadowdancer, I assume, since you had to apply for it from the sound of it. Im betting shadowdancer, but I shouldnt assume about someone's build.)

[Trollfiend]

Jan 16, 2015 19:00:47 GMT -5 Sapphire said:

Jan 16, 2015 14:34:43 GMT -5 bloodalchemist said:

Question on your rant saphire, how exactly do you know the second character is min maxed? Have you traveled witht hem before? Have they told you their stats? Or have you checked their account? Seriously, i understand getting a bit miffed at the first example, but on the second, that just sounds like you want to be able to have a distaste for someones characters and rp about them as you see fit. Is it in their char description that they stink or something?

The big problem with critiquing any rp is you dont exist in a vacuum. no one is a flawless example of rp perfection -ever-. some people just have off days and want to play a game, run around and have fun. or maybe they're tired and things can get a bit sloppy. Jumping down someones throat over how they rp their stats (still not sure how exactly you would know they min max) Maybe calm down a tad and get off your high horse. If someone is using a lot of ooc, talk to a player advocate if you dont feel comfortable offering a suggestion to the player directly.

Not hard to work out when you see this character smack a few creatures down with a non critical hit of 70 and 80 + damage that STR is pumped to maximum... I might have high horse standards as you put it but I find it hard to understand why I am under such scrutiny just because I want to take a PRC class and people like this can get away with lack RP values to suit themselves and play the NWN engine for all its flaws.  But hey I still play and play it to the best of my abilities RP wise as well..  I wasn't trying to force RP on that half-orc it was just my characters reaction I emoted for her if he had ignored it totally I would not have bothered bringing here..  But common sense to everyone am sure is you can not emote "Did not break wind" it is simply not even an emote.

I mean really come on, its not hard to come up with a response to rebuff my emote... If the roles where reversed I would have replied along the lines thus *sniffs the air and looks accusingly at the human standing near by*  Thus that deflects the claimed emote my character made in the first place...  

Actually, *Did not break wind* seems like a very awesome and polite way of saying "Hey, stop playing my PC for me, jerk!"

You emoting what other PCs do is the worst type of roleplaying that could ever be done. It's rude. It's in bad taste. It's uncalled for. And it pisses people off. It's one of my very top pet peeves and one of the things that would cause me to go off on players who would dare do it to one of my PCs. You're quite lucky that the player of the half-orc was more polite than I am.

It's even worse to come here and criticize said player for making that emote when it was clearly you who were in the wrong.

[FlyingMidget]

Guys, try and give the new person some slack.  

Yes, emoting something like such is not a good practice regardless of the server or environment you're in.   Rather then jumping down his/her throat, advise why such is wrong and remain civil.

As to claims of 70-80 damage without a critical hit, I call BS.

To Fenix, I'd honestly be surprised if he could critical hit for over 60 damage let alone a hundred.

Moving along, while the first incident, if he managed to contact a DM and whatever had happened wasn't against the server rules, I'm sure that the DM in question spoke to them.  It's good that you refrained from using names in a public forum, if you have particular issues with a player, I'd suggest contacting a DM directly or speaking to one of the player advocates they're generally rather friendly and easy to approach.

The reason the second has caused such a stir on the forum's is like NPC's you cannot emote what another character is doing as that is completely upto the player, playing them to decide what they do.   NPC's are in the same boat, as only a DM is allowed to represent a NPC.   

Suggestion on way to improve such in the future. 

*Tasar shifts away from the Orcblood with a disgusted look on his features, as if there happens to be a bad smell in the air.*

While you can't emote what another character does, you can emote your character pretending that they have done something.  Do make sure to leave it up in the air, don't make statements as if that is exactly what the other character had done without the other player having emoted such first or given approval that they had.  Even then they have the right to simply emote that they have a bad smell surrounding them, to notify others that there is no foul smell emanating from them.

Simply my 2cents,

TLDR, be civil, particularly to new folk and don't roleplay anothers character or NPC.

FM.

[DOT]

Wait. Stop. Rewind. Replay.

Good vibes.

[Trollfiend]

Jan 16, 2015 21:10:19 GMT -5 FlyingMidget said:

Guys, try and give the new person some slack.  

Yes, emoting something like such is not a good practice regardless of the server or environment you're in.   Rather then jumping down his/her throat, advise why such is wrong and remain civil.

As to claims of 70-80 damage without a critical hit, I call BS.

To Fenix, I'd honestly be surprised if he could critical hit for over 60 damage let alone a hundred.

Moving along, while the first incident, if he managed to contact a DM and whatever had happened wasn't against the server rules, I'm sure that the DM in question spoke to them.  It's good that you refrained from using names in a public forum, if you have particular issues with a player, I'd suggest contacting a DM directly or speaking to one of the player advocates they're generally rather friendly and easy to approach.

The reason the second has caused such a stir on the forum's is like NPC's you cannot emote what another character is doing as that is completely upto the player, playing them to decide what they do.   NPC's are in the same boat, as only a DM is allowed to represent a NPC.   

Suggestion on way to improve such in the future. 

*Tasar shifts away from the Orcblood with a disgusted look on his features, as if there happens to be a bad smell in the air.*

While you can't emote what another character does, you can emote your character pretending that they have done something.  Do make sure to leave it up in the air, don't make statements as if that is exactly what the other character had done without the other player having emoted such first or given approval that they had.  Even then they have the right to simply emote that they have a bad smell surrounding them, to notify others that there is no foul smell emanating from them.

Simply my 2cents,

TLDR, be civil, particularly to new folk and don't roleplay anothers character or NPC.

FM.

I once had a level 5 half-orc barbarian who could crit for 80. Strength alone isn't what decides your damage in this game. It's also about the weapon.

My barbarian could actually one hit the mummies in the bottom of the crypt in GG with his non-magical greataxe.

[appleseedy]

were getting slightly off topic.

[Sapphire]

Whilst I appreciate what most have responded here in this thread... The main thing I was drawing to was the misuse on an RP server to not even try to represent the character race specifics/traits... In that an half-orc talking fluently in English is not realistic in RP terms... My character for instance an Elf with an INT base score of 14 speaks broken English as she has until now not had much contact with humans and others races. She will say things like "human tongue nay good" use other words slightly out of context. Think of it this way if you were Polish in real life but came to live in England your speech would not be perfect English and added to that there would be a underlying Polish accent too. Again my elf when speaking common misuses words even stumbbles on them or even claims through her speech such as "ermmm... what right word be" and like uses words like "spoke" instead of what she means is "speak" as would a foreigner visiting another country.

Sure I have high RP standards, but someone playing a race other than human or maybe dwarf to be able to speak fluently in what is their effectively new 2nd language is a bit far fetched to say the least. And mostly my objection is to powergamers and metagamers that think they can play any race no matter that they only have an INT score of 6 or at best 8 and think they can RP as if that stat didn't matter or count for anything in their attempts to RP. Or even to hold a conversation with another character of a different race and converse so fluently in an adopted language.

[Charon's Claw]

A half orc isn't always a slobbering oaf. For example my half orc fighter has a base intelligence of 14. Also the common tongue in Faerun isn't technically a 'second' language (in most instances). It's the common tongue to facilitate easy speech between many races and subgroups. It's Faerun's trade tongue. To me it seems worse RP for a person who has contact with the outside world not to speak what is Faerun's most common language, than it does to still be struggling with it if an elf has been alive for at minimum a century. However, I won't force my own vision of stellar RP upon another person simply because I think it's silly. So long as they actually show an effort to stay in character, and aren't god modding all over the place they're cool to me.