Socks and Sandals

Here’s my D&D character. What are you?

I Am A: True Neutral Elf Sorcerer/Rogue (3rd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-14
Constitution-13
Intelligence-17
Wisdom-12
Charisma-14

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.

Primary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Secondary Class:
Rogues have little in common with each other. While some – maybe even the majority – are stealthy thieves, many serve as scouts, spies, investigators, diplomats, and simple thugs. Rogues are versatile, adaptable, and skilled at getting what others don’t want them to get. While not equal to a fighter in combat, a rogue knows how to hit where it hurts, and a sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage. Rogues also seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding danger. Experienced rogues develop nearly magical powers and skills as they master the arts of stealth, evasion, and sneak attacks. In addition, while not capable of casting spells on their own, a rogue can sometimes ‘fake it’ well enough to cast spells from scrolls, activate wands, and use just about any other magic item.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Wow, this year’s ETE was even better than last year. A bigger crowd, a better venue and great speakers made this year the best yet. I can’t wait for next years! There’s a lot of cool stuff going on around the Philly area that you’d never know if it weren’t for events like this. E.g. did you know MapQuest is located in Lancaster, PA? I had no idea until yesterday.

In other conference news, my talk yesterday went pretty well. People seemed to really enjoy it and the room was full. You can view my talk slides on Hadoop on my talks page along with my other slides from previous talks (including last year’s ETE talk on Comet).

Thanks to Chariot for putting on another excellent event, in particular Tracey Welson-Rossman and her merry band of awesome facilitators! Keep it going for next year :)

I’m speaking about Hadoop today at 4PM EDT at the Philadelphia Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise conference. Its located at Drexel University. Come on down if you can make it; the speaker list is great and I’m sure it will be a great time for all!

After taking some time off and assessing my options, I’ve accepted the post of Chief Architect at Invite Media out here in Philadelphia. They are an early stage startup still in stealth mode and they are doing some off-the-wall cool stuff. I’m really excited to be working with such a great team of people and looking forward to helping them out in any way I can.