Annoying Game Questions You Want Answered

[Prak]

Well, they will do it for healing potions, so there's already some precedent. The house rule would be intended as a less optimal, but situationally more useful version of that-- If you have time and materials, a cleric can turn 2 xp into 1d8+CL hps. The idea of the house rule is that if they don't have time (may or may not) or materials (probably will not, but I'll try to accommodate to some extent) they can turn something like 5 xp into 1d8 hp with only a short rest.

[JonSetanta]

2000 gold makes an unlimited use Cure Light Wounds item that heals the entire party between encounters.
It takes a while though.

[TiaC]

One of your players could just make a character that can give infinite healing and they would start to curbstomp encounters.

[Prak]

I'm not going to use Tome because this group turns it too rocket launcher taggy, so I'm not sure how they'd accomplish that.

[JonSetanta]

I'm reminded of "Dende" from Dragonball Z.

[Prak]

Never watched it, no clue.

[Meikle641]

How about this: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adven ... Points.htm

[Prak]

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Thanks Meikle.

[Kaelik]

So a friend suggested I run World's Largest Dungeon. I've read others' accounts on here, so I'm going to jiggle things a bit before I do, but one thing in particular is that the WLD was made such that xp... doesn't work. The areas were scripted such that each is good for a range of three levels, but has sufficient encounters that if normal xp rules are used characters will outpace the areas. So it suggests just having players level twice per region.

No big deal, really. However, I'm concerned that healing will be rare in the dungeon and don't particularly want to have a gigantic list of dead characters.

So I'm considering a more standard xp distribution method and a house rule which allows players to spend xp to heal. Any thoughts on the house rule?

Okay, so I am going to jump in here on this because I actually fixed the leveling problem in my head a long time ago:

Are you ready for this: Just use the standard XP progression, and then once they are one level above the recommended for that section, stop giving them XP and tell them you aren't giving them XP.

The dungeon drags on pretty hard. Your players are unlikely to complain at level 4 that they aren't getting XP from beating up more Darkmantles. If they want to, at level 4, they can breeze through everything they haven't cleared to get the loot, or they can just move on to the next section.

This:
1) Rewards them at the pace they normally expect, so they don't have to be level 1 forever.
2) Allows them to curbstomp the area once they have been in it long enough, so if they start to get bored with an area, they can go through it faster.
3) Means they won't feel like they have to hunt every corner to get the XP to to get to the next level, so they can go for goals instead of farming darkmantles at the slight cost that the goals will be as hard as they are supposed to be instead of slightly easier.

[Prak]

That's a good idea too, Kaelik. When I start up the game I'll float that by the players and see what they want to do.

[Prak]

What is the correlation between Point Buy allowances and Roll schemes for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5? I'm thinking about ditching random generation, but have never liked point buy because I think the number of points is too low. I usually do a suped up roll scheme for the same reason (occasionally 5d6, reroll 1s and 2s, drop two lowest, but I've been reining back lately).

I would imagine that 15 correlates to 3d6, 22:4d6, 28:4d6 w/ 1 reroll, 32:5d6, or something like that, but is there a way to figure other roll schemes and their correlations to point amounts? I'm thinking about a 4d6 reroll 1s scheme.

[JonSetanta]

Why not use elite array?

[Kaelik]

Why not use elite array?

Because the Elite Array is worse than the PBs he is complaining about being too weak.

[ubernoob]

What is the correlation between Point Buy allowances and Roll schemes for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5? I'm thinking about ditching random generation, but have never liked point buy because I think the number of points is too low. I usually do a suped up roll scheme for the same reason (occasionally 5d6, reroll 1s and 2s, drop two lowest, but I've been reining back lately).

Just do a higher point buy. People that really want an 18 in their stat (wizards, etc) will get one even under 25 point buy, and people that want several stats at 14+ will be able to get them while still getting a 16 if you just give out higher point buy. Personally I've been using 32 PB for years. Only real power difference between it and 25 PB is that people tend to have +2/3 more reflex save and at least one or two more skill points due to more people having 14 int/dex. Under 25 PB everyone goes 18 casting stat 14 con anyways.

[ishy]

The Invisibility spell states: "The spell ends if the subject attacks any creature. For purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe. (Exactly who is a foe depends on the invisible character’s perceptions.)"

So technically, that means if you consider no one to be a foe, invisibility never breaks, even if you fireball everyone?

[Koumei]

So technically, that means if you consider no one to be a foe, invisibility never breaks, even if you fireball everyone?

Do you regularly fireball your friends?

If you all had Fire Immunity, then I could see a very strange-minded character regularly fireballing his friends for some justification (maybe they all agree that it's nice to get that warmth and keeps the midges away). But you still need to extend this to actually going adventuring while not viewing Team Other as foes, then deciding to fireball the party in the middle of a fight with these other chaps who aren't foes.

Prak: if you're okay with everyone taking "the obvious stat arrays" (which happens in point-buy no matter what, but won't cause the gaming table to erupt into fire), then just raise it to 32 points or something. I think I accidentally gave 36 point-buy once, and no harm befell the game.

These days I enjoy Frank's idea of "everyone roll six times 4drop1, everyone picks one of those sets, even if they all pick the same one". It does involve gathering everyone in the one place just to start character generation off, though.

[OgreBattle]

I've never been down a goblin or kobold dugged burrow that wasn't made to fit humans. Has anyone ran a game where the goblin burrows are sized for kobolds/goblins (and dwarves I guess) instead of the armored Medium Humanoids coming to murder them? Are there any modules that give goblins and kobolds appropriately sized tunnels?


Is there a self conscious setting where Wizards know that studying does dick and if you want to create a tiny magical hut you have to kill enough stuff until you're high level enough to cast it?

[virgil]

I've never been down a goblin or kobold dugged burrow that wasn't made to fit humans. Has anyone ran a game where the goblin burrows are sized for kobolds/goblins (and dwarves I guess) instead of the armored Medium Humanoids coming to murder them? Are there any modules that give goblins and kobolds appropriately sized tunnels?

I ran a game once with that situation, back in 2E. The party just threw fireballs into the warren and killed everything. I was in a PF game where goblins carved out tunnels through a massive thorn hedge for their height, which made moving difficult/frustrating (squeezing penalties for all), especially when we fought the goblin druid who just walked through the walls. Judging by how we knew the geography even from the outside, we could've just set fire to the whole thing and not bothered. I even suggested that, but the party just laughed at me and then nearly died to druid ambush...

[Prak]

I've never written an adventure with goblin or kobold enemies (aside from a "Ok, lets see you guys take on a min maxed player level threat that mirrors you fucks" thing), but the published adventures in which I've seen them always has kobolds inhabiting a structure made for another race--mines in a WotC one, a planar prison dungeon in WLD.

[deaddmwalking]

I've never been down a goblin or kobold dugged burrow that wasn't made to fit humans. Has anyone ran a game where the goblin burrows are sized for kobolds/goblins (and dwarves I guess) instead of the armored Medium Humanoids coming to murder them? Are there any modules that give goblins and kobolds appropriately sized tunnels?

Particularly with goblins, there tends to be an assumption that they're lazy and don't really build their own dwellings. Since they typically occupy someone else's existing home, the tunnels may or may not be sized for them appropriately.

Even in situations where the home is originally sized for a man-sized or larger creature, there are usually some places where the tunnels narrow - either because they're natural features or because the goblins/kobolds dug some other areas for themselves.

I'm pretty sure that a goblin encampment in Rise of the Runelords includes goblin-sized tunnels, possibly through thick thorny hedges.

Is there a self conscious setting where Wizards know that studying does dick and if you want to create a tiny magical hut you have to kill enough stuff until you're high level enough to cast it?

Not that I'm aware of.

[shadzar]

I've never been down a goblin or kobold dugged burrow that wasn't made to fit humans. Has anyone ran a game where the goblin burrows are sized for kobolds/goblins (and dwarves I guess) instead of the armored Medium Humanoids coming to murder them? Are there any modules that give goblins and kobolds appropriately sized tunnels?


Is there a self conscious setting where Wizards know that studying does dick and if you want to create a tiny magical hut you have to kill enough stuff until you're high level enough to cast it?

no, because goblins and kobolds are mostly scavengers, so they take over things for other people that are left behind or captured by the horde. sometimes they would add new connections or rooms, and those would probably be made jsut big enough for them to not have extra work to do.

it is one of the dumb things in 4th where all rooms must support a fight and be something like 40'x40'.

for any that ARE scaled just for them, you just flood them out and do whatever when they scatter. eversmoking bottles to find entrances, then decanters of endless water/etc to get them to leave their warrens, then send in a gnome to find anything they left behind that you want to take.

the wizard... no DING moments except in video games.

[tussock]

What is the correlation between Point Buy allowances and Roll schemes for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5? I'm thinking about ditching random generation, but have never liked point buy because I think the number of points is too low. I usually do a suped up roll scheme for the same reason (occasionally 5d6, reroll 1s and 2s, drop two lowest, but I've been reining back lately).

I would imagine that 15 correlates to 3d6, 22:4d6, 28:4d6 w/ 1 reroll, 32:5d6, or something like that, but is there a way to figure other roll schemes and their correlations to point amounts? I'm thinking about a 4d6 reroll 1s scheme.

The median roll for 3 of 4d6 is ~ 16/15/13/12/10/8 after you reroll the sets without net +1 or any 14+. Which is near 28 point buy, but the mean point cost is much higher because there's a quite few characters turn up with 50+ points on 3 or 4 high stats.

The in-order with a reroll and swap thing is much the same, if half the players were using their point buy more "creatively" for Strong Wizards and Wise Rogues, plus one person only wanted to spend 22 points and someone else managed to sneak in with 40.

3d6 strait has even greater variation, but perhaps 22 points median if you chuck out the common rubbish sets.

25 points is where purchased stats are better than dice, because people can guarantee to dump a useless stat and save some points. It's designed to sit alongside standard rolling and be never better.

That (3 of 5d4)+6 is huge. 18/17/16/15/14/13 or so. 58 point buy. 2nd edition Darksun stats. Not that your bottom 3 stats matter at all, even for Monks and Paladins.


But point buy equivalents for rolled characters vary hugely depending on their best stat. The median rolled character with an 18 is about 18/16/14/13/11/9 and ~42 points. If you get a best stat of 14 it's about 14/14/13/12/10/7 and ~22 points. Using point-buy turns that on it's head and the best overall characters have the lowest top stats.


Of late I've been trying choose three stats from 16/15/13 (or whatever set you prefer), and roll the remaining 3 in order on 3d6. Use your racial bump for an 18 in your prime. Mostly gives the roll-like variety with balance close enough for shotguns.

[radthemad4]

Does a Tome Monk have any reason not to dump DEX?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Initiative.

[radthemad4]

Ah, okay. Thanks. And some skill checks I guess.