Talk:Xeno Codex (3.5e Sourcebook)/Zeitgeist

Talk about overly specific Knowledge skills
A DC 70 Knowledge (Zeit) check is already stupidly specific enough that only skillmonkeys who get massive bonuses to any skill they want will ever be able to make it. A requirement of 50 ranks in Knowledge (Zeit) means that only characters that should not and almost certainly will not exist can ever know it. --Foxwarrior 04:59, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Is all knowledge of the destruction of an entire solar system and collapse of an empire so well covered-up that not even deities remember its existence? --Foxwarrior 05:02, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Would DC 50, and 30 ranks seam more reasonable? Most travelers know the Uongo-mijusi story, which is not very specific. And yes, most demigods do not know the specifics. The Xeno Codex is almost devoid of gods, yet for the sake of argument Greater and Overdeities should know.


 * The 30 ranks requirement would mean that only creatures who are level 27 or higher can learn it, which is still higher than any player should ever get. Knowledge (Zeit) is an overly specific skill, too. Knowledge (History) or Knowledge (Xeno) are at least skills that someone might actually want: The only reason a creature would get Knowledge (Zeit) is because that creature's player wanted an excuse to use their unlawfully acquired player knowledge of Zeitgeist conspiracy tactics. Also, if most people know the Uongo-mijusi story, then most people know that Zeitgeists are vile and greedy. --Foxwarrior 05:29, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Dropped DC and necessary ranks significantly. How would you do secret info? How would you make them a non-cliché slaver? --Franken Kesey 05:41, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Their modus operandi seems like it would be clear enough that anyone with access to a Zeitgeist-conquered planet's history could realize that Zeitgeists were less great than they appeared. Perhaps it would be better if they were more subtle about their late-stage tactics. Why demand payment and obtain martial law when you can win popular elections from a satisfied populace? When political mistakes are made, non-Zeitgeist minions can be made to take the fall. This means that they can't do anything Evil that their subjects are aware of, of course. The incompetent ones may sometimes accidentally get caught in quickly covered up sadism scandals, but surely you can't judge a race by its psychopaths, right? As a side-effect, the Zeitgeists would often end up being a good thing for their victims, but that can be averted by introducing megalomaniacal apocalypse scenarios to taste. By the way, I think this is probably relevant. Stargate had a race that worked a lot more like the Zeitgeists, the Aschen, but they only worked because Stargates are good at restricting information. --Foxwarrior 06:53, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Made personality, on race page, more vague. Removed Evil subtype; instead attaining a evil-good feature. Added a shape change, so that it is easier for them to be a part of a society... at least for a short period of time. --Franken Kesey 18:15, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I applaud you, The philosophy in is exactly what I want them to emanate - somewhat like Robert Greene's, Art of Seduction. --Franken Kesey 18:34, 10 November 2011 (UTC)