Shike019

Re: Thoughts on Solara Then you will wait forever. It is ONLY available in the online store. What you buy is a Service Contract, and then log into the Hero Designer Website and download the program.

Re: Music Instrument Familiarity Yes, I fully agree, but almost all the woodwinds (clarinet, sax, flute, oboe, etc) have a common fingering scheme (Not necessarilly exact, but very similar). Also, an English Horn is a larger version of an oboe (never actually played one, but have had discussions with professionals on the topic). In Steve's scheme, he put saxophones with brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, etc) and had English horn and French Horn a seperate group. I actually loaned my copy to our GM for the week, so I can't actually more fully describe the scheme he used, but it didn't make sense to me as a musician.

Ok, I know I’ve mentioned this in the Ultimate Skill (Micro review) forum, but felt it deserved more notice. My one and only gripe about the ultimate skill (for which I believe it is the best $35 spent I can think of) is with the Musical Instrument Familiarity Skill. In my opinion (as a musician who has played most band instruments in performance) the categorization of the instruments is quite off. This is how I would have done it. Brass Instruments - Low Brass (Trombone, Baritone, Tuba, Euphonium, etc) - High Brass (Trumpet, French Horn, Flugel Horn, etc.) Woodwinds - Single Reeds (Clarinet, Saxophone, etc) - Double Reeds (Oboe, English Horn, Bassoon, etc) - Flutes (Flute, Piccolo, etc) Strings - High Strings (Violin, Viola, etc) - Low Strings (Cello, Bass, etc) - Lutes (Guitars, Lutes, mandolins, etc) Keyboard Instruments (Piano, Harpsichord, Organ) Percussion - Xylophones (Marimba, Vibraphone, etc) - Drums (Snare, Bass, etc) - Kit (drum set) Other - Hammered Dulcimer Etc. These categories are more inline with how the instruments are played (and as proof I have my own experience playing them. My list of instruments is, Saxophone Family (Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Soprano), Clarinet Family (Bb and Contrabass), Trombone, Baritone, Tuba, Trumpet, Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano.[all instruments in italics I have performed with]) Again, I want to reiterate that I absolutely love this book.

Re: The Ultimate Skill (micro review) I must say, I absolutely Love this book, but have a couple of problems with the Musical Instrument Familiarities. From practical experience a saxophone should be classified witht he woodwinds (as it uses a modified clarinet mouthpiece and modified clarinet fingerings). As well an English Horn is the next step up from an Oboe, and as such should be classified as such. I don't know if steve was going by construction or practical playing, if it was from construction then he should have clarinets in the "brass" catagory as well (yes they make brass clarinets). Again, Other than a couple of problems with the musical instruments this book is amazing and probably the best $35 dollars I'll have spent in the past 6 months.

Re: Culture Research Since I am a Librarian, I feel the need to put forth a warning. Be Careful with information you obtain off of Wikipedia. There have been isntances of experts in the field entering articles and others deleting them based on their own personal biases or somesuch. Thank you for your time. I would highly suggest talking to one of the librarians at your local college too. They are also fountains of knowledge (not necessarily for the information but how to find it and where to look). Also I believe that most colleges/universities (in the U.S. at least) have some sort of user privileges for those not attending that school, which includes access to information only available through a college/university/research institution.

Re: New Liquid Armor (for real)

Re: Your Character: The Series (Not exactly WWYCD...) Artemis: Something Highlanderesque w/o the head hunting. Live action, Probably G or PG. Otherwise fairly boring, by itself. though I think replicating his 360 degree spatial awareness would be quite interesting.

Re: Character limitaions: Another CSL vs MA Inspired thread As I said in the other threads, my current GM has explained anyone that is defined as 'human' has the NCM disad (and gets points for it). If you don't take the disad, you have to define yourself as something other than human. (such as my character who, through elightenment and training has surpassed normal human boundries, and is, as such, no longer "human" but something slightly beyond human.)

Re: Combat Skill Levels vs Martial Arts I don't know about the unrevised 5th edition, but I know that in 5er, martial arts are Listed under skills and explained in detail in the combat section. BTW, I've lurked throught his entire thread and found it very interesting. Even though I lean towards the view of bwdemon and Checkmate, I can easily see both sides of the argument (hold over from my days in philosophy class). Both have there merit, but like I said I have personal leanings towards the NCM side. As towards the original post, I think that Martial Arts describe a particular "style" of fighting, even if it is a made up style. And CSL's work to determine how well you can use that style. YMMV of course. Cheers

Re: Elves I have elves in my campaign world, which are tolkienesque, but I'm thinking of doing' a little bit of a shift on them.

Re: Normals w/Abilities vs Supers [Offshoot of CSL vs MA] In my current game, the GM has two options for NCM. THe first is the 20 pt NCM which doubles after 20 and ends at 30. THe second is a 40 pt. which Puts a hard cap on Primary Stats at 20, and you can raise one figured past max. This all depends on Concept though. IF you don't take NCM then you're character isn't a "normal Human" such as, she's a mutant, or somesuch.

Re: n00b alert!

Re: Quick Hero Over on my Spell Search Thread I mentioned that I created a searchable online database for Fantasy Hero Spells (or any spell system really ). The direct link is Here. I am adding in Killer Shrike's spells as well. I am far from finished, but this may be a good resource (when it has more to it) for this type of thing. Also, I suggest looking at Killer Shrike's Magic Systems, it may help. Cheers

Re: Practical Costuming (not quite a WWYCD) My current character hasn't actually had a Costume until, well the near future, He generally wears A dress shirt and pants (no tie) a fadora and trenchcoat (as weather permits), and keeps his powers a secret, fitting into the everyday. He will, eventually, be wearing something akin to a Black Zen Monk outfit with a black "blindfold" (sight group flash), and since he has 360 Spatial awareness (that is better than normal sight) he won't be using his eyes anyway.

Re: Holding 'em Back Why not use a Naked Modifier?

Re: Spell Search Good news. Killer Shrike has granted me permission to add the spells from his lists to my database.

Re: Spell Search Currfea, I actually based it off of the Voyager Online Catalog combined witht he Proquest Database Advanced Search. I will, I think, get some more spells in of my own. If you click on my name under "source" you will be sent to my comments form. If you have ideas about improving either the Spell output format, or the content of my spell ideas please go ahead and fill out the form. If you want a spell added, go to my homepage, (http://shike.frih.net/) and click on the submission form, read the instructions for submissions and fill out the form.

Re: Spell Search I'll play around with it. But as of now, I'll keep it with all results on one page. As a side note. If you want to experiment with search terms, use the D&D Spell Search (which has 52 spells in it). I'll start working on Hero Spells shortly.

Re: Spell Search The main reason I have a problem with it is, I have the ability to have a qute complicated search and don't know how to build the url for the next and previous pages.

Re: Spell Search Curufea Problem. PHP is a server side scripting language. Which means, the actual script doesn't get outputted to the browser (like javascript) Just the finished product.

Re: Spell Search I was actually planning on asking that very question, especiall of Killer Shrike and Fitz. Of course all spells would have their creator's (or adapter's) name(s). [edit] If anyone wants to get a feel for the search interface. Use the D&D version *ducks head* as it has more spells (inputing the SRD). This way you can get a feel for the capabilities of the search. BTW: I'm still figuring out how to do multiple pages of results, so I currently have the limit set at 2000 [/edit]

OK, I'm posting here as I figure that this is the place to get the most use out of it. I have created a MySQL Database and PHP program to search spells. I currently only have one spell, but will be adding to it. Also on my website there is a submission form if anyone wants to contribute. My website is http://shike.frih.net There is a link to the spell search in the update "blog". Also, you can navigate to it via the menu's (my website has browser support information for the menus. So please, if anyone wants to contribute, click the "Submission Form" link on my website.

Re: Equillibrium via Dark Champions I would actually build this using the Ranged Martial Arts Rules (i.e. Zen Riflery), extra DCV levels, and a high speed (nearing campaign max). But YMMV, as always. Cheers

Re: Potions...what limitation for a potion that expires? *lol* I can definately see this going on.

Re: What setting does your campaign use? Well, I'm currently writing a fantasy setting. (no where near done), but playing in a champions game. I'm also playing a d20 game (yes I know, but I still like the system some) in the Forgotten Realms. (as I haven't finished my world yet.)