The Gaming Den

D&D as played through video games seems to have gained a considerable acceptance by society.[br][br]OTOH, P&P D&D as played by 5 friends at a basement table is still considered to be eyebrow-raising. Even though we've been doing it for 20+ years longer than the video game contingent.[br]...

I'm waiting for Lago to scrape up some dirt on good ole' Mother Teresa.

And by the way Lago, do you have any published references on T.J.'s predilection for rump wrangling? I'd die laughing if the Face of the Five Cent left a racy diary blabbing about his affection for assification.

I dunno if you guys have the time, contacts, and resources to do so ... but PDF'ing this thing and putting it up for sale on RPGNow might be a worthwhile venture.[br][br]Looks really strong so far. At least from a combinatorial mechanics, execution, and creativity angle. Throw some good art and PDF ...

Starting at level 1 means paying more attention to buildcraft concepts from levels 1-6, than that of 1-20. Just getting to 5th/6th level will probably take you a long time and in that time, other interesting game mechanics will no doubt surface from WotC. Levels 3-6 will be crucial in prepping your ...

I didn't say it was a problem. I provided for you my observations within my local metagame environments.[br][br]Gishes *were* extremely popular in my area for many years. But due to their higher than normal attrition rate, they are not as popular as they used to be. Which is ashame - because as I ea...

The one issue to note with the new-Wildshape-rules 3.5 druid is ... the rules can be confusing and unfun for many players (vets & newbies). Popular consensus seems to be that PHB-2 era Wildshape is maddeningly frustrating from an "at table" perspective. Causing lots of play slowdowns w...

In my game experience, Gishes biggest obstacles (and highest cause of deaths/dilemmas) are:[br][br]1. Inability to effectively recover from a multi-removal Dispel Magic (say, losing 4-6 buffs). Unlike backrow squishy mages, your Gish ass is plugging away under the immediate threat of tooth, claw, an...

A lot depends too, on your:[br][br]1. Starting level of play[br]2. Your partner's conjectural build (or build concept)[br]3. Campaign parameters (dungeon crawl, urban intrigue, Underdark, etc.)[br][br]Ideally, you want to condense your archetypical Iconic-4 into a 2-man synergy unit.[br][br]I have i...

Looking at the SM9 list ... it's really retarded to see a power spectrum that includes the Greater Barghest (CR 5) and Xill (CR 6) on one end.[br][br]And a CR 17 Wastrilith on the other. [br][br]Yeah, Wasty has a little drawback to it, but not one that is insurmountable. Still, the diametrically opp...

I hope the DMG 2, Stronghold Builders Guide (3.0), and Powers of Faerun (a related sourcebook of recent) are all in synch with each other concerning this kind of stuff.

That being high level play where players want to build kingdoms, play politics, run guilds, etc.

Chopping down the summon casting time from 1 Round to 1 Standard Action is a good thing to strive for. Customized Metamagic Rods of Rapid Spell (Comp. Divine feat) can accomplish this without lessening the size/oomph of your summoned monster. Reducing casting time also stops the annoying ease-of-int...

Ever since the publishing of 3.5 Spellsword and 3.5 Eldritch Knight, I've seen plenty of Gish (agreed, a horrible term) that have been absolute failures in RPGA and local gaming groups. Primarily the organically grown Gishes that start at 1st-3rd level and work there way up.[br][br]Players who wante...

If I am reading this right, you may be able to get a krazy kombo out of Duskblade's Dimension Hop spell (on his spell list) and the Telflammar Shadowlord's Shadow Pounce class ability. Just "channel spell" a Dimension Hop on your last attack in a full attack sequence on *yourself* (autohit...

Beguiler XX / Prestige Bard 2 / Whatever PrC XX[br][br]...[br][br]UA's Prestige Bard is an interesting dip for Beguiler. Per its "Unique Spells" clause, you can add *all* the unique Bard-only spells to the Beguiler's spell list. Granted, the clause does have a possible sketchy-worded escap...

My current Wizard has a metamagic rod of sculpt spell and the Shadow Spray spell. Sculpting the Shadow Spray spell is both cheap and utterly, mindblowingingly fantastic in its expanded field of coverage.[br][br]Since it is a 2nd level spell, you can't take it as a Beguiler's first Advanced Learning ...

Would an *evil* Beguiler benefit from taking the Mother Cyst feat from Libris Mortis?[br][br]It grants you another 10 or so spells to add to your list from what I recall. I don't have the Libris Mortis book, so I don't know if there are any synergies between the feat and the new class.[br][br]++++++...

1148147225[/unixtime]]2 questions:[br][br]Does anyone know of cheap ways for level 8-10 characters to pump up their spellcraft check?[br][br]Does anyone have an expanded familiar list with accompanying bonuses? [br][br]1. Artificers are the kings of crazy-high skill boosting.[br][br]2. Specify what...

Does anybody recall if there are any published D&D modules (WotC or D20) where a significant amount of combat encounters are intended to subdue or capture your foes over outright killing them?

I'll be *very* dissappointed to hear there is none.

2 of the most popular build methodologies for Chameleons are:[br][br]1. Maximizing that Ability Boon class ability to cram as many stacking benefits onto that final +6 Comp. Bonus to the given stat. This includes other stat-synergized feats and classes/PrCs in the other 10 levels of your 20 level bu...

Well, as I stated earlier, Death Attack is almost always a crap class ability. But there are exceptions. If you have a dedicated D.A. build that fulfills the combined following criteria, it may have real-life play value to it:[br][br]1. Has a Death Attack DC in the 40s, 50s or higher (which is compl...

I agree that the Assassin PrC is total crap. Death Attack in general is total crap as well. [br][br]If you insist on a Death Attack m.o., I believe the best way to get Death Attack into the crazy-high DC arena is via the Unearthed Arcana Racial Bloodline mechanics. It somehow works with a build comp...

Celerity spells are also good candidates for the Contingency spell and the Craft Contingency feat. Cleverly worded, you can set your interrupt actions to open up a lot of combat options for your spellcaster.

The way I see it, video games are not-so-slowly tearing rapidly into all profits from other forms of entertainment: toys, CCGs, P&P RPGs, even the movie theaters are feeling the hurt from people prefering to spend their hard earned money on video games. On a twist of what I mentioned earlier, I...

A significant amount of campaigns will have tempo and derailing issues if the party spends a lot of time subduing and capturing their enemies. When you capture enemies, the game often comes to a screeching halt. As the group now has to first discuss their next phase of action (which in these cases, ...

You may want to rethink the division and naming conventions of the Gaming Den's folders.[br][br]The "In My Humble Opinion" folder seems to be best suited to overarching metagame theory & debate.[br][br]An additional folder along the lines of "Game Mechanics & Buildcraft" ...