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Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:29 am
by DM Arkanis
PiaMango wrote:Are there any mercantile source books for Faerun? I'm talking detailed descriptions of trade routes/general economics of the lands, greater than that described in the Campaign setting, and not list of prices for magical items.

It seems Faerun is loosely based of Europe, is it a fair comparison to equate real world historical economics and geography to Faerun?

If yes, the real world equivalent of the Cloud Peaks would be the Pyrenees, which is only snowy in the wintertime. However our in game representation shows it covered in snow all year round down to its foothills. Is it a case of you get what you see and the Aurilites have caused a ceaseless winter upon the peaks, or did we just decide we like the snow map better and outside of winter it shouldn't be snowy at all.

And for my final question, does Ivan the druid smell bad?

Hi there,

1. Some good source books ar Volo's Guides http://www.waynesbooks.com/VolosGuides.html these might have some of the information you are looking for.
2. The FR is really based on our whole world as we know it with South America, Asia, and Africa all represented in some form as well as Europe although the FR is billed as a much much larger planet than Earth. Individual countries in the FR also have their own flavours from knights in shining armour (Cormyr) to Arabian nights (Amn/Calimshan.)
3. Snow all year round in the Cloud Peaks could be magically/godly induced, or the mountains may be at a higher elevation or a combination of both. In a magical world the laws of nature as we know them do not necessarily apply the same way they do here.
4. I'd have to say from what I've heard that Druid's in general prefer a more, er, natural odor - earthy, shall we say, Ivan being no exception there. A very good friend of mine RP's his Druid having a birds nest in his beard and a ferret that lives under his cloak...

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:58 am
by Killington
May I tap thy infinite knowledge to answer this question?
Killington wrote:Beforehand I acknowledge that this is a bit snowflakey so I apologize in advance.

I have a question regarding the possibility of an evil Warlock that at some point has a change of heart and no longer fulfills the requirements of being chaotic or evil. If this were to happen, would they still be able to use their abilities? I would imagine that they would not be able to continue to progress as a Warlock if they become, for example, NG, but would they lose their Warlock powers?

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:27 am
by DM Arkanis
Killington wrote:May I tap thy infinite knowledge to answer this question?
Killington wrote:Beforehand I acknowledge that this is a bit snowflakey so I apologize in advance.

I have a question regarding the possibility of an evil Warlock that at some point has a change of heart and no longer fulfills the requirements of being chaotic or evil. If this were to happen, would they still be able to use their abilities? I would imagine that they would not be able to continue to progress as a Warlock if they become, for example, NG, but would they lose their Warlock powers?
"A warlock is an arcane spellcaster who gains power through pacts with powerful entities, most commonly devils, elder evils of the Far Realm, fey,[1] or demons.[2] These pacts allow warlocks to channel powerful abilities of arcane might that would otherwise be closed to them."

A good character wouldn't be making pacts with powerful evil entities I'd imagine, and as this is how they channel their abilities IMHO an alignment change means a loss of warlock powers.

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:52 pm
by DM Arkanis
Couple of quick things folks:

1. I post here of my opinions/stuff I've gathered in my travels. If you are looking for a DM ruling on anything to add weight to your argument or say, "Ya, but Arkanis told me it was OK" that is not the intent of this thread. If you need a DM ruling or are looking for a specific clarification on rules or lore with regards to something you have going on then there are other places on the forums to post for that. I give my opinion that's all so please don't tell other DM's that I've given you permission/authorized things when I haven't.

2. The intent of the thread was to answer more light-hearted, dare I say even silly questions. I understand there are lots of you out there who are better at searching the internet for answers than I am and I don't claim to be always right or an uber authority, so let me say it again, the intent here for me is not to clear up lore issues/server concerns/cement your arguments, as that is really against the spirit of the thread to ask me the same questions over and over just rewritten. I'm gonna start deleting those posts and while I don't mind someone having something to add for clarification on what I post I don't want to get into a lot of back-and-forth haggling over things; again, I give an opinion only and there is a lot out there in source books and on the web in general which is out-of-date/old/controversial/changes from version to version of the game, my intent is to engage in conversation and inspire imagination, not argue over rules and lore and if I get it wrong, I get it wrong.

End of rant.

Ask me anything now except about the woodchuck. That ship has sailed. :D

Ark

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:43 pm
by LISA100595
Alright I'll bite.... How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:17 pm
by Ghost
Esteemed Campaign Coordinator Arkanis,

Do you believe in ghosts?

Signed,
A ghost

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:43 pm
by DM Arkanis
LISA100595 wrote:Alright I'll bite.... How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?
OK this is absolutely the last time I am answering this one :x

An article "published by the Associated Press in 1988, which reported that a New York fish and wildlife technician named Richard Thomas had calculated the volume of dirt in a typical 25–30 foot long woodchuck burrow, and had determined that if the woodchuck had moved an equivalent volume of wood, it could move "about 700 pounds on a good day, with the wind at his back". Another study, which considered "chuck" to be the opposite of upchucking, determined that a woodchuck could ingest 361.9237001 cubic centimeters of wood per day."

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:13 pm
by DM Arkanis
DM Ghost wrote:Esteemed Campaign Coordinator Arkanis,

Do you believe in ghosts?

Signed,
A ghost
lol! Yes, Ghost, I do believe in you.

On a personal level I have had several interactions with unexplained events over the years which has led me to believe that there are supernatural entities out there - call them ghosts for the sake of argument. My home was built in 2003 in a farmers field located in an area settled in the early 1800's. There was a pioneer village in the vicinity and several dozen farms surrounding although the exact locations are unknown to me as I haven't been able to find any archived materials showing this - only where concession lines were and who owned what and how much property. I bought the place from a couple in their late 50's in 2006 and moved in with my daughter. They purchased the place brand new from the builders and were the original owners of the building and I did ask them (tongue in cheek) about noisy neighbours and unexplainable noises, and they said the place was quiet. My daughters bedroom was at the front of the house, and mine at the back, and nightly she would crawl into my bed after having bad dreams. My sister came to live with me for a year, and the bad dreams ceased, but when she moved out, my daughter had nightmares again, until she changed bedrooms and moved into my sisters old room and then they stopped again. I chaulked all of it up to anxiety from being away from her mother, but a couple of years later my daughter told me that, "the little girl" doesn't bother her anymore. When I asked her what little girl, she said the one that used to crawl into bed with her when she was little. Probing her for more information I asked for details, and my daughter said, "the little girl was maybe six to eight years old, dressed in a long nighty (pyjamas) and used to follow her around the house; one time the little girl spoke to my daughter when she was brushing her teeth but when my daughter turned to look, there was no one there. I didn't really think too much about it until the other stuff started to happen. In the winter of 2010 I was stricken with Bell's Palsy (I'm ok now) and given steroids for a week to combat it. They kept me awake so I decided one evening about 11pm to paint my bedroom. I had Star Trek DS9 playing on the TV while I painted, and all the lights in the bedroom, master bath, and upstairs hallway on so that I could see. While rolling paint on the wall where the TV is out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of movement, and turning my head quickly I saw the bedroom door to my daughters old bedroom silently swing shut. it didn't slam, just swung on its own. I called the woman I was dating at the time and asked her to come over, which she did, and there was no other happenings that evening. There are no drafts in my home; no doors or windows open to explain. The door simply closed apparently on its own.
I'll give you a brief idea of some of the other events over the years:
There were loud cracking noises in my hardwood floors upstairs - in the master bath, walk in closet, main bath, and in both bedrooms. There would be one or two cracks, silence, then a couple more, silence, etc. and this would go on, at night, sometimes for a half hour, then stop. One night I got up and yelled "go to bed!" into the darkness and they ceased instantly.
One night I awoke from a sound sleep thinking my daughter was crying, "daddy daddy!" and ran into her bedroom only to find her gone - she was spending the night with my parents. My neighbours on either side have no children.
One night I awoke to the sound of glass smashing in my kitchen. I ran downstairs and all the lights were on, the kitchen cupboards opened, and a glass jar with pennies in it that was in one of the cupboards was smashed on the floor. I checked every room of the house, the windows and doors were all secure, and no one else was there but me.
I used to drive a city bus and made friends with one of the drivers whose bus I would take to get to my work every evening. I got a promotion, and as a parting gift he gave me a yellow inflated ball from Walmart with a smiley-face on it - he told me it was Wilson (like in the Tom Hank's movie Cast Away) and he would keep me company. I display the ball to this day on the manle above the fireplace in the rec room in the basement (where my computer and TV are) it sits on an old packing tape roll, and I have a name tag that says "Wilson" stuck to the mantle below him. With regularity, Wilson would fall off the packing tape roll - I'd come home and see him lying on the floor. One morning at 05h11 while I was reading emails, he just fell off all on his own. I adjusted the tape roll and he stayed on.
I regularly hear footsteps coming down the stairs to the basement, but no one is there. This has been heard by three other people including my daughter as well.
One night while I was siting on the couch in the basement with my girlfriend at the time, we were suddenly over-come by the stench of strong body odor - like professional wrestler grade BO. It went away after a couple of minutes, but the next morning when I got into the car to go to work, it came back (this time it was just with me) I politely told the air in the seat next to me that when I stopped the car whatever was with me needed to leave, and when I got to work, the smell vanished.
About two years ago I'd really had enough of the noises and general weirdness so I walked the halls and rooms of my home and prayed and asked whatever was there to leave. I did this two days in a row and for the last two years my home has been silent and no weird funny business until two days ago when...
The antique cuckoo clock that hangs in my dining room doesn't work. It's been in my family for over 100 years and is from the Black Forest in Germany and looks good. I got home from work and the cuckoo clock was ticking, but the pendalum wasn't moving. It ticked loudly for a couple of minutes, cuckooed once, and stopped ticking without me touching it at all...
and then I went downstairs to the rec room and discovered Wilson had fallen off his perch and rolled an impossible distance of about 30 feet across completely level ground to the bottom of the stairs all on his own...
I guess you can say I believe in ghosts.

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:14 pm
by DM Nephilim
Ok, so the woodchuck debate is put to bed....that is good.

But...

1. what is the sound of one hand clapping?
2. If a tree falls in the woods with no one/nothing there to hear it or record it, does it make a sound?
3. If most cars today are build without cigarette lighters in them, why do the still keep putting in ashtrays?

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:51 pm
by DM Arkanis
Ah, Neph,

This is my own interpretations and not from the internet. :D

1. By definition one hand cannot clap. It is an oxymoron - you need two hands to "clap."

2. Again the trick to the tree in the forest scenario is the definition of "sound." Technically a sound is heard by an ear (or substitute ear such as a microphone.) If a sound wave is generated by the tree falling and no one is there to hear it, no "sound" is generated because no sound is detected. If someone/something with proper hearing was there they would hear it - in their absence there is no sound by definition.

3. I just got off the phone with a high school buddy of mine who owns a Toyota dealership. I asked him about the ash-tray and he laughed because he apparently gets this question all the time. He says that they are calling it a "storage compartment" these days and there is still an option on some models to have a removable ash tray for that compartment. The lighter has been removed as well and offered as an option, and is generally billed as a charger/converter port now.

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:56 pm
by mireigi
Why is a group of squid not called a squad?

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:58 pm
by DM Arkanis
mireigi wrote:Why is a group of squid not called a squad?

Good question. A group of squid is called a shoal which is kinda cool, but definitely not as good as a squad. According to Answers.com there is a movement afoot to have the name changed to squad. Very exciting stuff.

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:34 pm
by Hidennka
Arkanis! Will you be playing Dragon Age: Inquisition?

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:32 pm
by DM Arkanis
Hidennka wrote:Arkanis! Will you be playing Dragon Age: Inquisition?
Yep! My good buddy Al picked it up yesterday and Friday night I'll be sluggin a few pints back with him while we explore. It's gonna be epic!

Re: Ask Arkanis

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:34 pm
by mireigi
Both of you just gained five notches of approval in my book for mentioning Dragon Age: Inquisition :)

What is the most memorable D&D experience you've had, both online and good old PnP?

Also, if you could be a fruit for just one day, which one would you choose to be, and why?