The Gaming Den

Both systems could benefit from stealing ideas from the other. And both systems have systemic flaws. But if for some reason I was forced at gun point to choose one, I'd take the 3e version, because at least that way I can make an NPC Necromancer that functions a intended. Een if it does take far mo...

Shadar-kai? Yeah, works.

I was trying to work out how what you said fit with, say, a dragonborn paladin or something.

Well, no. You're not immune, you just have a bucketload more hp. Once the bear goes down, you'll want to get it back up fairly quickly, because if the nasties can get the bear out of your sight or away from you, your shiny trick goes away. But okay, now I'm just arguing semantics and "what if's...

I meant the PCs, not lichs. Also, given that we're on the topic of undead, 'crawling in my skin' and 'wounds that won't heal' may take on a more literal meaning.

You're puking at what, exactly? The lack of undead creation? I can agree with that. But the lich itself seems solid. It does everything else a lich needs to do. Hmm... Interesting. Flipping through Open Grave, I came across the rituals section. "Undead Servitor". Creates what amounts to a ...

Someone throw this at the 4.Fails to watch them squirm. Meh. It's the same as Pun-Pun, or any of the other infinite loop/invincible/kills everything in one round/whatever type of builds that exist in both editions. It's an interesting mental exercise that, once found, would be avoided in most games...

I added that because both the ritual and the destiny are in Arcane Power. They already do. In the MM, DMG and Open Grave. Yes, it's stupid and annoying that they're forcing the "PCs are good guys! Always! They wear bright clothing and smile all the time!" angle, but it's not like they've ...

Well, the 4e devs took one step forward with the ritual and then two back with the archlich destiny: ... ... Sorry, was the purpose of this thread to poke at a specific ritual, or just "let's find the broken in 4e". I'm good with either, I'd just like to know. Archlich You fail to remain ...

On the plus side, being attached like that, he's always within 20 squares. On the downside, I don't think Yogi has at least one hp left... The potentially more disturbing question, frankly, is "what happened to Booboo?" It doesn't matter whether Yogi has any hit points or not. As long as ...

Uhh... sarcasm, right? There's quite a few rituals that permanently affect the game world. Beyond stuff like Knock, Leomund's Secret Chest and and Enchant Magic Item, a few Make Whole's could restore an entire village, and Raise Dead also permanently affects the game world - or at least until the fe...

On the plus side, being attached like that, he's always within 20 squares. On the downside, I don't think Yogi has at least one hp left...

The potentially more disturbing question, frankly, is "what happened to Booboo?"

Regarding the shadow master, I'll admit I don't know what source that's from, so I can't say much on the matter. If there is a nonexistant ritual, then yes, that's a rather dire problem, but one I have trouble believing was intentional. Sorry, it's a "Death Master" and it comes from the D...

If you're going to have ablative defenses that defend you from things that aren't deadly, you're going to want to have the special effects of those defenses involve you not bleeding when they are expended. They can be force fields, or mystic runes of protection, or fatigue, or luck, or whatever. Bu...

I like the ideas mentioned of having a separate mental HP pool and having save-or-die spells persist round to round. Mental HP Even though PR doesn't like the idea, what if we decided to go whole hog with this and give everyone mental HP totals? Then spells like Dominate Person and Hold Person do m...

...Which, of course, demonstrates the "smash in the door" ideas that permeate the entire fucking game. 3e might be broken, but it was focused on creating a believable world for players to explore. 4e says, "Fuck it," and goes straight to the wargaming. I'm sorry, this is the bel...

Ugh. I hate the notion of non-lethal spells doing damage. It feels very 4e to me--"Everything does damage, even charm person !" While I do get your distaste for the matter, it could be done without being silly. 4e pretty much requires this because it has only lethal damage. That's just da...

Let's say from a game design, 4 hits kills an opponent, but on average it takes 6 attacks to kill that opponent. In such a case, we'd want our Flesh to Stone spell to have an overall 1/6 or 16.66667 % chance of working. Or maybe we decide that we want insta-kill powers inherently worse and we make ...

Hold on, which system? 4e? Ritecasting is just a feat, which requires training in Religion or Arcana. If you stat up an NPC like a PC, easy. Give 'em the feat and a ritual called "conjure light rain" or something. If you stat them up like a monster, you're pulling abilities out of whereve...

No, a ritual would not suffice. See, when you want to make a fucking wall, you want to make it now, not 9 minutes after all your companions have been slaughtered and you are completely surrounded by enemies who are just waiting for you to finish making the wall so they can mock you for sucking so m...

Cloud of Daggers is an AoE. And noone knows how big that AoE is because it's written incorrectly and hasn't ever been errataed. But whatever. My bad again. It's late, my head's not functioning properly. I'm off after this. I should have said "AoE's that E and A worth mentioning". Y'know, ...

Note that I specified Flaming sphere, and spells like it as exceptions. Flaming sphere does the same thing (if you start next to it, take damage). I missed Cloud of Daggers, but did recognise the hole. At higher levels, I would imagine, you'd be better off using AoE attacks, with a chance to kill mu...

Fair enough. All makes sense - you're right, personal preference (I have to wonder how many edition wars boil down to just that...). One minor quibble, though: In all of 4th edition you will never get to a place where a 1st level Wizard can't one-hit insta-kill the minions of your main opponent with...

A red herring would be if I avoided the issue to avoid answering it. I've answered it. You're completely correct in this instance. I then started a new, 'spin-off' issue, wondering at what point you would consider this to be a bad fix. It's not a red herring, it's two herrings of undetermined colour...

Welcome tic. Thanks. Long time lurker, first time poster and all that. I was a little wary I'd spark another flamefest, but so far, there's been civil debate. That's not something I'm used to on this topic. It's refreshing. I'm going to answer others, then come back to Frank's points, since they're...

When I first got into 3e, I wanted to play a battlemage - a staple of fantasy, the armoured dude swinging swords and spells with equal proficiency. Yes, I could multiclass wizard and fighter, or sorcerer and fighter. I'd have to cop some spell failure from my full plate and heavy shield, sure, but ...