Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. Up this time: A few more thoughts about my D&D character and character-building strategies, the resolution of a War at Sea mystery, and a brief thought on the unlamented passing of Osama bin Laden.
Building My Next D&D Character
After abandoning any ideas of trying to build Stabby Smurf, I really put on my thinking cap for the next campaign. The players collectively decided to provide ourselves with an important character constraint: Everyone had to have a good Stealth check, and we would play outlaws or outlaw-like characters without getting too dark. I settled on the idea of providing a bit of muscle for a party otherwise full of rogues, and decided to build a melee-focused striker who could still take some punishment. My theme: Bounty Hunter. My character would be the guy who skirted the line between lawman and outlaw.
I examined several different possibilities for a basic chassis: fighter-slayer, scout ranger from Essentials, or even the marauder-build ranger from Martial Power 2. At first I was jazzed about the ranger angle because I liked the idea of getting some tracking and good bounty-hunter skills built in to my class, but when I started to seriously assemble a marauder, I discovered that I was pretty unenthused about choosing seven or eight different powers to begin play at 5th level. So I looked hard at the scout ranger, and almost went that way… but the scout was a Dex-high character, and I simply saw Murgom (my character) as a big, strapping fellow using Strength to beat up his foes. I waffled back and forth between slayer and scout, until I finally decided that what I really wanted was to roll one big attack each time I swung, instead of the two-weapon fighting used by the scout. Slayer, for the win! I picked out longtooth shifter for my character race, since half-orc just felt a little too savage.
So, now the question became, how do I fit out a slayer with feats and skill choices to play him as a bounty hunter instead of a berserker? A nonlethal weapon to complement my 2-handed sword seemed like a good place to start, so I spent a feat on Bola Training. Next, I wanted to heighten my awareness and woodcraft… but it would be feat-costly to chase after as much skill training as I might want. I instead settled on Alertness. Being the kind of guy who never gets surprised feels like a good compromise on the perception skill, and appropriate for the keen-nosed shifter. I chose Streetwise and Intimidate for my skills, figuring that it just helped to complete the story.
Overall, Murgom is not particularly optimized; I’m wasting feats and choosing skills I won’t ever really use much. But it’s fun to build a character for some roleplaying as well as pure damage output.
War at Sea 6 Booster Set Art Revealed!
I have been following the various threads about the mysterious units shown on the cover of the War at Sea 6 booster set with great interest. I have to say, I am iMpressed by how quickly the WaS cOmmunity identified these ships and planes! It’s gratifying to see that we’ve got the sculpts and paiNts close enough thaT you guys can piece them together. Anyway, to confirm whAt most of you already kNow, here Are the units depicted in the box cover: Heavy Shore Battery; the Italian cruiser Banda Nere; the Fw-190; and the German O-class battlecruiser Moltke.
(Now, I know that the Germans didn’t really have a name for that ship yet. But, following the admittedly thin example of Friedrich der Grosse, I took the liberty of providing what would seem to be a plausible name for the ship, had it been built. The first Moltke was a successful battlecruiser in World War I; it was named for General Helmuth von Moltke (the Elder), who was one of the principal architects of victory in the Franco-Prussian War—just the sort of accomplishment the Nazis would have liked to commemorate with a new ship name. Of course, Hitler was touchy about the Prussian aristocracy, and Moltke the Younger is often blamed for altering the Schlieffen Plan and costing Imperial Germany its best chance to win the First World War.)
Osama bin Laden
I found myself thinking today of a Judge Roy Bean quote, and taking the liberty of applying it to the situation at hand. Judge Bean was a pretty detestable fellow in a lot of ways, and the original context of this quote wouldn’t pass muster by today’s standards, but the sentiment seems poetically appropriate. But if you'll forgive the substitutions, I think Roy Bean put it pretty well:
Osama bin Laden, in a few short weeks, it will be spring, the snows of winter will flee away, the ice will vanish, and the air will become soft and balmy, in short, Osama bin Laden, the annual miracle of the years will awaken and come to pass, but you won’t be there.
The rivulet will run its soaring course to the sea, the timid desert flowers will put forth their tender shoots, the glorious valleys of this imperial domain will blossom the rose, still you won’t be here to see.
From every tree top some wild woods songster will carol his mating song, butterflies will sport in the sunshine, the busy bee will hum happy as it pursues its accustomed vocation. The gentle breeze will tease the tassels of the wild grasses, and all nature, Osama bin Laden, will be glad, but you, you won’t be here to enjoy it because I command the sheriff or some other officer of the country to lead you out to some remote spot, swing you by the neck from a knotting bough of some standing oak and let you hang until you are dead.
And then, Osama bin Laden, I further command that such officer retire quickly from your dangling corpse, that vultures may descend from the heavens upon your filthy body until nothing shall remain but the bare, bleached bones of a cold-blooded, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting, murdering son of a b****.
That's all for now -- more on Axis & Allies Air Force Miniatures next time!
