New answers tagged dnd-3.5e
0
There's some little tricks to get someone to tell the truth.
First, you need to be sure they don't have any magic protecting them. Since divination spells are filed by nondetection and similar spells, cast on them some spell that has no save and is dismissible. If you can't register the aura, the target is protected against divination. Tell him to dismiss ...
3
Geas
You could cast Geas/Quest on the target, this is however a 6th level spell but it only allows a chance of SR - no saving throw. So it's nearly what you want, but it's not going to get around mind blank sadly as it's mind effecting.
The spell text states:
While a geas cannot compel a creature to kill itself or perform acts that would result in ...
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Sense Motive, DC 100.
The Epic Level Handbook (page 44) describes the ability of the Sense Motive skill to detect surface thoughts. The target DC is 100, and the effect is non-supernatural, non-spell, non-spell-like: entirely and utterly mundane. There is no saving throw, no spell resistance, no attack to miss.
If the target can achieve a Bluff of 100 and ...
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The closest thing I have ever come across, in Pathfinder, to what you're looking for would be one of Abadar's spells, Fairness. It offers both SR, and a save. However, SR can be lowered, and will saves can be willingly failed. So, you can tell something to submit to it, and will know upon casting whether or not they have done so, as it will be obvious when ...
2
Why are templates used?
Pretty much exactly this sort of situation: changes that can be made to a variety of creatures, rather than specifically writing up a new creature/race for each combination.
What steps would I use to make a balanced template?
This is very tricky. It would depend a lot on what you are trying to do.
In my opinion, the first thing to ...
-1
For me a combination of reasoning and creativity works best.
At first you have to ask why does someone go on an adventure like that.
Reasoning dictates, that no one would do something he would just entirely fail in.
So there must be a reason.
He can fight well
He can do powerfull magic
There is a God protecting him
I don't know your particular set of ...
5
You cannot get an “Animal Companion” unless you have that class feature (from the Druid or Ranger class, or possibly from some other classes in supplements). You can buy, raise, and train animals, but they are not “Animal Companions” and gain none of the benefits of the Animal Companion class feature.
One of the benefits of the ...
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First of all, I want to state that the “Tiger’s level” isn’t really a thing, or at least nothing relevant. There is the character’s “effective Druid level,” which determines the Animal Companion’s benefits per The Druid’s Animal Companion. These include bonus HD, which do wind up increasing the Animal ...
9
You Probably Can't
At least, not in a Monk-specific fashion. I'll explain why in a minute or two, but consider that you may have to solve this on an OOC level, with the player himself, and not on the character's level.
Here's the Problem
Monks have a lot of reasons that the game's not enjoyable for them specifically. Some of these are answered in the ...
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D&D 3.5e isn't quite Pathfinder, but Pathfinder's Advanced Race Guide might be a useful tool to roughly spec out and balance your new races. You can compare the core races as-is to races you build from scratch using their race points system.
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First, a word about some mechanics: I strongly suggest that you only create “LA +0” races, that is, races in line with the usual choices presented in the Player’s Handbook. If your interested, I’ll explain what I mean below, but feel free to skip it if that’s what you intended all along.
3.5 has a rule called “level ...
3
If you're going to run a whole bunch of combat, then yeah, I have to agree with folks that monks are a bit weaker than the other classes. I like the acrobatics angle and I don't think players and DMs use the "Rule of Cool" nearly enough to encourage this kind of behavior. It needn't be a specific power, but if your player is willing to "Jackie Chan" his ...
4
If you are not playing at a high optimization level, then a monk is a perfectly valid character. My group has run a large number of 3.5/Pathfinder campaigns and there are plenty of monks as PCs selected over time, and their players have enjoyed them in play just fine.
In our current pirate campaign the captain is a core monk! At seventh level his base AC ...
5
If the player is open to it and the group doesn't mind, the simplest solution is just to make him not a Monk. There is no good way in core to "fix" Monks, the best you can do is things like changing class features and BAB to make something that's still kind of like the Monk class only better (as suggested already).
Comparatively, it's relatively ...
22
You need to focus on the fact that no matter how much optimizing or tweaking you do, a Monk is simply not great at straight-up combat. Monks are good at doing crazy stuff. Monks should not be slugging it out rolling boring attacks, they should be looking for non-standard actions.
A good monk will have lots of ranks in things like Jump and Tumble, and can ...
3
I don't think it's necessarily out of character for a paladin to refuse to buy things. He could be from an order of mendicants, for instance, and believe that he should be living a life of poverty whenever possible. If he's just trying to save up the money to get a new sword or something, that's another matter.
The "camping out right outside the mayor's ...
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Immediate and Obvious Steps
Full Base Attack Bonus
Between their low HD, weak weapons, the penalties that Flurry of Blows applies, and so on, the less-than-full BAB of the Monk is just insulting. Switching Monks to full BAB is probably absolutely necessary.
Magic Unarmed Strikes
Allow Monks to upgrade their Unarmed Strike as a magical weapon. Charge 300 ...
6
Some ambiguity
Unfortunately, Cunning Brilliance is not very clear about what, exactly, it gives you, and what, exactly, are legal options for it. Worse still, there are abilities that are not clearly Extraordinary or not.
Which classes?
Factotum refers to “standard character classes” – a phrase used anywhere else in the rules, so far as ...
4
Classes are typically about class features, and Racial Paragon classes don’t get those. They have some nice stuff, but not that much nice stuff. I’d make Paragon-ness just a matter of story; you do not need the paragon class.
Mostly, a Racial Paragon is getting middle-of-the-road everything, but that means they’re not really good at ...
2
Honestly, the Paragon classes don't seem very good. The attribute bonus at 3rd level is nice, but the other abilities gained seem sub-par. Especially when you consider the 'Spells Per Day' gained by the various classes don't actually grant spellcasting powers (some of them read as if they won't stack with classes gained later, to boot).
From BAB, skills, ...
1
The Shedu Crown soulmeld (Magic of Incarnum) grants the ability to "communicate telepathically" when bound to the Crown chakra.
Potential problem: The name of the ability is not "Telepathy", as soulmeld-granted abilities do not have specific names. Regardless, the reader will see that this is precisely the ability described by under Telepathy.
This can be ...
7
The Move Silently rules apply unmodified regardless of your mode of movement. This is because they only reference "your normal speed", which can be any speed (land speed, fly speed, etc.). This means you make the same amount of sound when flying as when you are moving across solid (not noisy) ground.
Refer to the Invisibility Special Ability for rules on ...
1
I’m not sure if it’s ever specifically addressed, but the 4e rule would work quite nicely in 3.5, and even in the absence of an explicit rule you could argue that the rules of 3.5 would work out the same: the creature isn’t able to fit all of its space on the grid because of the pit. It therefore must squeeze itself in the remaining ...
5
On the definition of "official"
The question posed in the title "What is an “official” supplement in the context of D&D 3.5?" does not have an answer, as far as I can tell. The word "official" is not defined in any D&D supplement to my knowledge.
But there are a few possible interpretations of the word, thanks to Wizards of the Coast's publishing ...
7
The balance problem is that Arcane Might is rather weak.
Realistically, I cannot imagine any situation where I’d want to sacrifice a spell and a swift action for just +spell_level damage. It’s just not enough damage. At the cost of a +1-equivalent? Vastly overpriced.
Compare the Arcane Strike feat (Complete Warrior). It’s costlier (feats ...
4
Ask your DM
The independent research guidelines are intended to be worked out between a DM and a player to allow the player to do interesting or unique things with their character. This can, in some cases, be used to power up (or power down) a character if necessary.
But the Psion is a pretty powerful class. The limitation on the number of powers known is ...
3
This is not entirely clear from the rules text.
An argument for it being possible to learn more powers than the Psion class table indicates by performing original research is that "Independent Research" is a subheading of its own under "Adding Powers" in the Psionic Powers Overview. Thus, using Independent Research, you could bypass the limit imposed by ...
0
You can take Weapon Focus et al. in Natural Weapons
So the admittedly convoluted status of the Unarmed Strike is unimportant: even if you do call it a natural weapon, it’s still eligible for Weapon Focus.
The Unarmed Strike is generally treated as a natural weapon for the purposes of spell effects and feats (if you are a Monk, you also get to treat ...
31
It’s a problem but perhaps not as bad as “ECL 5” suggests
You are probably more powerful than a 1st-level character should be. You are not, however, as powerful as a 5th-level character can be, or even should be. Moreover, even as a 1st-level character, Wyrmling White Dragons have some glaring weaknesses that don’t seem appropriate.
...
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Yes, there are some pretty major problems with this from a balance perspective.
Dragons have supernatural and spell-like powers, unusual defensive and attack features, and racial hit dice. If you're looking for a mechanical prohibition on playing a dragon at level 1 (instead of just comparing all the goodies they get to the features of a typical level 1 PC ...
3
When levels in a prestige class stack with levels in a base class for purpose of determining the effects of a given class feature, calculate the benefit of the class feature as if the character had a number of levels in the base class equal to the character's number of levels in the base class plus the number of levels it has in the prestige class.
The only ...
5
It would often make sense to have Ride or Handle Animal be a way to get past an obstacle, but there are certainly lots of other options.
Horseback stunts
I guess the main thing would be to find skill-related obstacles particularly suited for horse back:
Maybe there's no clearance for both the rider and the horse -- you can take that passage by having the ...
7
Ask your players.
This is a strategy I adopted to great success when implementing 4e skill challenges: I might give them a set of obvious skils, but I'd also make it clear that any skill they could justify and the group considered legit would be made available. This is an at-the-table affair (not a help-me-prepare thing), and can take two expressions in the ...
23
An air elemental is not just air. It is a corporeal creature type and as such it has a "body" that can be disrupted by normal weapons.
Elemental traits from the back of the monster manual include only "immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning" and "Not subject to critical hits or flanking", so its perceptions and body are not like a ...
12
When you cast the spell, you change form to the desired form. That form remains until it ends, is dispelled, or is dismissed. It gives no ability to switch between forms in a single casting.
The precise text:
You assume the form of a creature of the same type as your normal form.
That is the effect of the spell when it is cast. Spell effects take ...
7
Well, if you read the feats, they all explicitly say that you can! Each contains the following line:
You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple as your weapon for purposes of this feat.
So your specific question is easy. A more general question is if that line is necessary -- and I'd say it isn't. The rules consistently treat unarmed strike as ...
0
I'm citing a book that I read. Though I don't remember the name, the main character was a Dragonkin Paladin...
One of the antagonists was a Lich, whose phylactery was an item that the group needed to stop some demonic entity from entering into the world. Thus, they couldn't afford to destroy the phylactery, and the Lich would keep coming back, and was a ...
0
I have seen no official list from WOTC. Their rules questions do, however, seem to give weight in a manner not dissimilar to the following
However, one can take the following hierarchy as typical:
First Party Materials
Core rulebooks
expansion rulebooks (like DMG II)
splatbooks
setting books
in-house magazine rules articles
in-house magazine non-rules ...
11
There's a formal breakdown
This breakdown is generally considered true across the RPG (and for that matter videogame) community, making for three classes of material:
First Party Material is created and/or published by the developer directly (such as Paizo publishing for Pathfinder or Nintendo making a game for the Wii U). This can be hard copy books ...
1
I upvoted SevenSidedDie’s answer, but here’s my take, for what it’s worth...
No matter what game system the adventure was written for or that you’re using, this is how you convert on-the-fly: Simply ignore any stats or mechanics in the module. Pick an appropriate monster, treasure, or mechanic from the game you’re running based only on the text descriptions ...
5
When you polymorph into a troll, your hit points do not remain the same, they are adjusted for your new CON. See this Rules of the Game article.
As other CON-affecting effects apply, they also modify your CON, so yes if you get CON drained your hit points reduce.
When you change back, your base CON goes to its original but other effects (like the drain) do ...
3
It's legal, but you decide if it's profitable
Most of these exploits tend to gloss over some important details. Let's look at the wall of iron trick.
First, the SRD math.
The material component cost is 50gp.
You need to be an 11th level Wizard to cast Wall of Iron, but let's make him 12th to make the math a bit easier. One casting will get you a 3" ...
15
DMG says:
The victim’s experience point total is immediately set to the
midpoint of the previous level.
Now, that is the One True Way. However, you said you didn't like this system, I see no reason to adhere to it if you didn't like it.
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It is spelled out explicitly and obviously in the level loss special ability.
A character who loses a level instantly loses one Hit Die. The character’s base attack bonus, base saving throw bonuses, and special class abilities are now reduced to the new, lower level. Likewise, the character loses any ability score gain, skill ranks, and any feat ...
3
Just use the Radiant Servant of Pelor straight, where the Extra Greater Turning features instead grant Greater Turning (as the Sun Domain feature). It’s not likely to be a problem anyway.
I strongly disagree with mxyzplk’s characterization of the Radiant Servant of Pelor as particularly powerful. Going down the list:
Radiance: more flavor than ...
6
Depends what he wants out of it, rules power or flavor.
In terms of flavor, Sarenrae is the closest deity to Pelor in portfolio (Sun, Healing).
Prestige classes, in Pathfinder, have been demoted to what they were kinda supposed to be when 3.0 added them - reflections of belonging to a quite specific in game organization. There are some good anti-undead ...
4
Wish cannot be used to create magic items in Pathfinder, so that part is a non-issue in the system.
Also, in Pathfinder, the candle of invocation actually violates the RAW. A magical item that replicates a spell with expensive material components is supposed to have its cost increased accordingly:
In addition, some items cast or replicate spells with ...
4
Short answer: Using a Candle of Invocation to Call a creature involves more than just the candle, so there is no broken infinite cycle.
Warning:
This answer relies on rules interpretations with which not everyone agrees. Unless proven otherwise, I do not believe that Paizo or Wizards have given authoritative answers that directly contradict these ...
9
"If not, is there a setting or something similar in which it won't work?"
Sure. Any setting you invent can do this. "Hey, my world has no such candles. And not only that, it has no Gate spell. Nor Wish."
Joking (semi-serious joking) aside, there's a real answer for you, a gothic horror setting that PCs can enter / be drawn into from about any other ...
18
Just ban it or change it
The Candle of Invocation is a broken item. It should not exist, at least not at that price. The rules as written make it the single fastest way to break a campaign into itty bitty pieces.
So in short, by no, the Candle of Invocation cannot be allowed to work as written without becoming an exploit.
I don't like the retribution ...
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