Hot answers tagged dnd-3.5e
73
stoppableforce mentioned some of the changes. I'd like to go into more detail and analysis.
General
Re-balanced XP. The amount of XP to gain levels has been re-adjusted to better mesh with the character wealth by level charts (e.g. Starting gold vs 13.33 encounters of thr appropriate CR's worth of treasure). This means that after 5th level, it requires ...
64
It's a relic of earlier systems.
From the "Dungeonomicon:"
Material Components: A Joke Gone Way Out of Hand
Material components are a joke. I'm not saying that they are metaphorically a joke in that they don't act as a consistent or adequate limiting factor to spellcasting, I mean that they are actually a joke. Material components are supposed to ...
45
Grease is a phenomenal spell for its spell slot, especially once you get a few Caster Levels under your belt so that it lasts. For many, grease is the go-to 1st-level combat spell after the first few levels.1
There are a number of reasons for this.
Area Effect
Grease has a goodly-sized area, that simultaneously isn’t so large that it’s ...
41
I should have been more thorough in my research.
The following comes from the Falling Section of d20pfsrd.com:
A character cannot cast a spell while
falling, unless the fall is greater
than 500 feet or the spell is an
immediate action, such as feather
fall. Casting a spell while falling
requires a concentration check with a
DC equal to 20 + ...
39
My first encounter with a D&D sorcerer class was 3E. The 3E PHB says on p51:
Sorcerers create magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn talent honed by practice. They have no books, no mentors, no theories -- just raw power that they direct at will.
In religious studies, "charisma" sometimes refers to the inner personal power in an ...
37
For a quick glance turn to page 2 in the book, usually a brown orange colour with all the designers names etc. Look near the bottom of the page.
It will start" "Based on the original Dungeons and Dragons rules..., and Peter Atkinson."
Under this, if it is a 3.5 book, it will say:" This product uses updated material from the v.3.5 revision."
If not, it ...
37
Alright, as the only one to agree on banning books;
The core rules of most games are the ones that get playtested the most. No matter how well or badly the stuff that follows it is, the core rules have the most eyes on them. When you leave the core rules you head into material that hasn't been playtested nearly as extensively. Additionally with each book ...
35
D&D 3.x isn't a "rules only" game. If there's no reason within the game world to worry about the remains reanimating (like, "we have to burn them before the reinforcements arrive to drive us off"), then it should just happen.
DM: Ok, so you gather the twitching remains and burn them in pyres. What's next?
Unless there is a pressure involved with ...
33
It's highly discouraged to set a 1 as a critical fumble in 3/3.5 One reason is that players get more attacks as they level up. A 20th level fighter gets something like 5 attacks/round. This will be even higher if they have multi-weapon feats and such.
In other words, a 20th level fighter will be falling prone, dropping his sword, or god forbid, stabbing ...
32
Other answers (including my own comment above) address possible reasons your players are doing this, and possible solutions to mitigate it. But you're not asking for value judgements or how to stop their behavior, so here's my best shot at a neutral analysis of how a D&D type setting could respond to the behavior.
These are some responses I've used, or ...
31
Hide in plain sight! Since you are both playing assassins, I would guess that your characters have the required moral flexibility to lie like politicians.
Simply find a few Holy Symbols for a religion that would appropriately want to have a monastery. Design and build this "monastery" based on your specifications but ALWAYS refer to it as the "New Holy ...
31
Build him by feel
SevenSidedDie has an excellent answer about why there's no definitive Gandalf build, but I think we can talk constructively about how to go creating a Gandalf build.
You want to "recreate Gandalf from the books" "in D&D3.5 terms." You can't, not precisely. D&D isn't a good fit at all for actually recreating LotR scenarios or ...
30
On a day in 1974, D&D was published in three little books. I'm equally certain that later that week someone asked what Gandalf's character sheet would look like, and it's been debated ever since in Dragon Magazine's articles (most notably Gandalf was a Fifth-Level Magic User by Bill Seligman published in The Dragon, which became Dragon magazine, in issue ...
29
Yes...depending
Alignment causes a lot of arguments around the D&D community. There are a pair of rock-solid methods: the Sanctify the Wicked spell, and the redemption rules, both of them found in the Book of Exalted Deeds. The BoED can be a controversial book in some groups, but those rules are a definite method of getting the lich back on the straight ...
28
I think the sections you linked to present the answer to your question:
Familiars: "Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar."
Animal Companion: "A (...) druid’s companion is completely typical for its kind except as noted below."
A polymorphed animal cannot be considered either "normal, unmodified" or "typical for its kind": It is a ...
27
People are amazingly blind to even bold print in their books.
It is an offical variant rule on DMG p28. Bottom right corner.
VARIANT: CRITICAL MISSES (FUMBLES)
If you want to model a chance that in combat a character could fumble his weapon, then when a player rolls a 1 on his attack roll, have him make a DC10 Dexterity check. If he fails, his ...
27
No, that is not normal, it's an unusually high kill rate in my experience. When I've been in parties that hit those levels, there have usually been one or two kills per campaign that require resurrection (though more close saves with resurgences and whatnot).
It may be due to bad player tactics, weak characters, or the GM runs things tougher than the ...
27
Increased characterization will provide interesting theoretical optimization challenges, reduce the strategic options of the DM, and make it more likely for you to actually play a game session.
I'm actually going to expand the question slightly:
What are the benefits of increased characterization?
As stated, any attempt at characterization theoretically ...
26
The Monk class is one of the weakest in the game. It has extremely few powerful or useful features, and those that are useful tend to have extremely tight limits on how often they can be used. The only major exceptions, namely their Unarmed Strikes, AC Bonus, Flurry of Blows, Evasion, and their bonus feats, all happen in the first two levels. There is almost ...
26
The two games are very different, despite sharing the same underpinnings. I know plenty of people who played previous editions who don't like 4e, and I know plenty of people who played previous editions who loved 4e. Hopefully we can navigate these rocky, contentious waters without flames.
First off, 4e is fairly light on non-combat rules. This doesn't mean ...
26
Balance is overrated. You want to give them the feat so they'd be better prepared, aka stronger, right? Now they are. The original intent is to deviate from RAW balance for a good reason. There is no cosmic balance you need to serve beyond that. If they are appropriately powered for your personal game, they are balanced by definition.
Unless you erred and ...
26
I would say no, for several reasons:
Ray of Frost on the PFSRD.
Ray of Frost does not freeze things, by RAW. There are spells that specifically say that they cause certain elemental effects (for example, Fireball specifically says that it "sets fire to combustibles") but Ray of Frost is not one of them. While it might be able to cool water or make a ...
26
Yes, a horse may grapple.
Monster Manual p273:
Horses have a grappling score, there aren't any special requirements excluding them from being able to grapple, and there's nothing saying horses can only react to grappling. The grapple rules, even employed literally, require a grappler to grab and then be capable of holding their opponent - the horse can ...
26
In general, you have a number of options - some need more preplanning however.
Doctor, It Hurts When I Do That
If characters are frequently getting caught in situations where they don't have anything to do, they are not playing the long game very smart. They should consider these times in builds, when purchasing magic items, etc. "Oh I'm a melee guy if ...
26
When I as a DM have an opportunity to make a major change to a character, such as character death, conversion to a villain or non-villainous NPC, etc, I will bring up the issue with the player. It means you can't surprise them, but by asking their opinion and inviting their input on the idea, you can not only find out whether they will accept/enjoy the ...
26
The SRD is very much on your side as a Fighter/Bard if you're wearing light armour:
Bards can wear light armor without incurring any arcane spell failure chance for their bard spells.
And with heavier armour it's got your back too – it's explicit that you only suffer an Arcane Spell Failure chance with spells that have somatic components:
If the ...
25
Study, Study, Study
Information is really the only way to overcome this problem, and it comes in a few varieties:
Know Your Players - This one is the most important. You should familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the PCs and with the tactics they tend to favor. Do they search a room when they walk into it before they do anything else? Does the ...
24
The question is: Is darkness an important element of the adventure? If yes, then torches may be a rare resource and it can be important to keep track of them. A sunrod could destroy some of the atmosphere and take some danger from the dungeon.
If the focus lies on slaying monsters and grabbbing treasure, bookkeeping of torches and their duration may be a ...
24
Old School Approach
Wishes should be worded, or at least able to be worded, in character voice. Since your character is ignorant of the mechanics of his universe, he's unable to voice that wish to affect the mechanics.
As a GM, if a character wished for that, Sure, the character never misses by rolling a natural 1 - in whatever dice games the character ...
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