12:23 PM (0 comments)
Why make fun of your enemies when you can make fun of Japanese wedding fashion?

11:01 AM (0 comments)
A little over a year ago Metafilter had a thread about strange people with "Magnificent Obsessions". Now there's a new one. Keep on eye on these, folks--lots of great links in them.

10:42 AM (0 comments)
"I thought, `My God, what is this?' Have they lost their minds?"

Continuing this week's apparent theme of windmill tilting at grammatical infelicity, a New York Times article on how Netspeak is creeping into students' work. Two especial items to note: 1) the title of the article--"Nu Shortcuts in School R 2 Much 4 Teachers", and 2) the middle name of the article's author.

12:57 PM (0 comments)
I'm up in the air about the art style, but I admit to being intrigued by the idea behind xCrawl (check out the quickstart rules on their downloads page)--maybe if only because it sounds like Sketch! meets d20 fantasy. I might have set the game in a modernized version of a fantasy world--I've always been interested in what one of those might be like--with the xCrawl being an entertainment echo of a lost time, but it sitll sounds kind of interesting. 240 pages of interesting? Only the end of the month will tell.

12:37 PM (0 comments)
Get ready for the Marvel MMPOG.

10:39 AM (0 comments)
Thanks to Chad, I now have a name for my enemy.

1:43 PM (0 comments)
Whoa-ho! There goes my I/O--there goes Hubzilla!

1:00 PM (0 comments)
I'd never heard the phrase "Internet terrorist" before*, but apparently this person (unnamed to prevent them a higher Google q-rating) is one.

* Of course, Google shows that I just wasn't listening. I mean, even the church has its own.

12:50 PM (0 comments)
Yesterday it was revealed that North Korea had kidnapped Japanese citizens for use by their espionage agencies. Today a list of the abductees was released; read together the stories of their disappearances are a horribly intriguing litany.

3:58 PM (0 comments)
The USPS released a Houdini stamp! How cool is that?

11:05 AM (0 comments)
Something I knew a little about before, but now know more: how airplane black boxes work.

10:45 AM (0 comments)
Back when I was a Sims fanatic, people teased me for "playing real life". Of course, while you still have to manage your Sims' toilet and bathing needs, one of the draws is that you're in control--something that most of us can't manage to do full-time in real life. And with a bit of perserverance, your Sim could soon be living a life far better than yours. Swimming pools, movie stars, the whole bit. It was a good--if virtual--life.

Then today I hear that when The Sims Online comes out, you'll be able to work at McDonalds to make the virtual currency of Simoleans that drive the game. Um, no offense, but if I'm going to play an Imaginary Life game, I want my career to be stuntman or bannana republic autocrat, not burger flipper #8675309. Sheesh.

8:15 PM (0 comments)
This post is for the folks in the Sunday-night game. The rest of you will either have to enjoy or suffer; your choice.

River Crosser
A d20 prestige class

Some adventurers are stymied by dragons, others by trap-filled dungeons. But there are those select few who find rivers to be almost impassable barriers, and who dedicate their free-time to conquering their liquid adversaries. They are the River Crossers.

Prerequisites:

• At least 5 ranks in the Swim skill
  
• At least one magic item related to water, or the ability to cast a water-related spell
  
• Con 10+

Class Skills: The class skills of the River Crosser (and the key ability for each skill) are as follows: Swim (Str), Swim (Str), Profession (sailor only) (Wis), Use Rope (Dex), and Swim (Str).

Armor and Weapon Proficiencies: The River Crosser is proficient in the use of all simple weapons. They are also proficient in the use of light armor. As usual, Swim checks suffer a –1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor the River Crosser wears.

Skill Points at Each Level: 3 + Int modifier

Class Level	BA	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Swim bonus (+10); Dry
2	+1	+3	+1	+0	Rivercunning; Sea Horse
3	+2	+3	+2	+1	Lungs of the Dragon
4	+3	+4	+3	+1	Water Freedom
5	+3	+4	+4	+1	Sea Horse II
6	+4	+5	+5	+2	Swim bonus (+20)
7	+5	+5	+6	+2	Nothing
8	+6/+1	+6	+7	+2	Sea Horse III
9	+6/+1	+6	+8	+3	Greater Water Freedom
10	+7/+2	+7	+9	+3	River Mastery

Swim Bonus: At first level, the River Crosser gets a +10 bonus to their Swim ability, indicated their new dedication to safely crossing streams and tributaries of all kinds. At 6th level, marking their progress and determination, they get a +20 bonus

Dry: Those dedicated to the path of the Crosser often have much experience with being wet—and commensurate experience with getting dry. In one minute, a River Crosser can go from being completely soaked to bone-dry. This effect includes all possessions of the River Crosser, including animals.

Rivercunning: At second level, River Crossers gain a +2 bonus on checks to notice unusual things about moving bodies of water, such as strange eddies, manmade waterways (even when built to match the natural surroundings), unsafe currents, lairs of underwater creatures, and the like. A River Crosser who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual waterways can make a check as if they are actively searching, and a River Crosser can use the Search skill to find waterway traps as a rogue can. A River Crosser can also intuit depth, sensing their approximate depth underwater as naturally as a human can sense which way is up. River Crossers have a sixth sense about rivers and streams, an innate ability that they get plenty of opportunity to practice and hone in their dangerous traverses.

Sea Horse: Each level of Sea Horse, gained at 2nd, 5th, and 8th levels, doubles the amount of armor and weight a River Crosser can carry for the same penalty to Swim checks. This doubling is cumulative; at 5th level, with Sea Horse II, a River Crosser suffers a –1 penalty to Swim checks for every 20 pounds of armor they wear, rather than the normal –1 penalty per five pounds.

Lungs of the Dragon: At 3rd level, a River Crosser can hold their breath underwater for a number of rounds equal to four times their Constitution score, and after this time the Constitution check (normally DC 10, as explained on page 85 of Core Rulebook II) is lowered by their Constitution bonus.

Water Freedom: At fourth level, a River Crosser can move one-half their speed as a move-equivalent action or three-quarters their speed as a full-round action with a successful Swim check.

Nothing: A River Crosser gets nothing special at seventh level. But they still get base attack and save bumps, so it’s not like they get nothing nothing. If their character level is divisible by three, they get a feat at that level. If divisible by four, they get an ability increase. If they have five levels of other classes before taking their seven levels of River Crosser, they’ll be character level 12 and get attack bonus and save bumps, a feat, and an ability increase. So don’t bitch to me; just get your timing right, okay?

Greater Water Freedom: At ninth level, a River Crosser can move their full speed as a move-equivalent action or twice their speed as a full-round action with a successful Swim check.

River Mastery: At tenth level, a River Crosser can safely traverse any body of moving water, walking across the surface of the water at their normal move rate. River Crossers with River Mastery aren’t required to make Swim checks to make this movement, and can extend this ability to any animal or creature they ride.