The Gaming Den

I don't know, that probably has loopholes too, but maybe this is one area where the DM just has to say "No, you can't suddenly consider that person an enemy in order to make that power affect them unless they're actively trying to harm you or interfere with your goals". Under what possibl...

Hmmm... Ravenloft? As far as I'm aware, Ravenloft will only break if you *go in* with items way above your power level, and if the DM does that he's an asshole because the Dark Powers wouldn't let you in through the Mists if there was a reasonable chance of you knifecriming a Realm Lord *without* be...

Much as I hate to say it, a degree of MTP might be required here. Almost any rules-lawyery attempt to adequately define "allies" and "enemies" is likely to have holes. Maybe the best we can do is to leave it to the discretion of players and DM, but to give guidance on specifics. ...

There were loads of spells in 2nd Edition that allowed you to more-or-less do this shit for free. If memory serves, it was the Drawmij series of spells in one of the Greyhawk books; you could summon an army of really souped-up Unseen Servants that were craftsmen of various types and get them working...

So, coming back to the idea of wealth, how much personal potency should wealth grant? I think it should grant some measure of advantage, otherwise why would anyone bother with it? If fighting naked with your fists is just as effective as being decked out in plate with a greatsword, who is going to ...

Exactly. When Grognash Gore-Drinker pits his mighty magical battleaxe Soulcleaver against Xom the Quick's magical rapier the Razor of Karn, +3 to hit and damage on either side just doesn't get the pulse racing

Um, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. You either have to throw away all the powers, spells and effects that grant bonuses or penalties based on numbers of opponents, or you've got to fix every single one of them on a case-by-case basis. In the case of Pearl of Black Doubt, you'd probably amend it...

You've still got the Bag o' Rats problem though; if you are able to selectively designate "whoever you want" to give you bonuses to [whatever] by launching bullshit attacks in your direction, we're no better off. All class abilities that do something on those lines still need revisiting, w...

I guess it's a variant on Magical Dice Party that my group generally uses. In some instances, there's no need for dice; your cowardly merchant may well be flat-out convinced that the Barbarian will cut his nuts off if he doesn't agree to a discount. In other cases there's no need for dice because th...

Beguiler, hands down. Give him this: http://rapidshare.com/files/226500796/Beguiler_Spell_Reference_v1.5.pdf.html I can't claim credit for making it, but it is the most useful document ever for Beguilers. Sounds fantastic, but I can't get at it because it tells me the download limit has been reache...

"Wealth=Power" only can break the game if you can freely buy magic items. Most of the games I've played in, magical items are only freely available up to a certain power level. On the one hand, it keeps a lid on craziness but on the other hand it's back to DM fiat, which means we're playi...

As for claiming that there's no reason to play if you can't buy magical loot with big chunks of gold... Well, I'm just bloody stunned, is all. WTF?! Being rich is fun , because money does, or can, equal power without breaking the game. It doesn't have to equal "power in terms of magical items a...

"Wealth=Power" only can break the game if you can freely buy magic items. Most of the games I've played in, magical items are only freely available up to a certain power level. On the one hand, it keeps a lid on craziness but on the other hand it's back to DM fiat, which means we're playi...

Damn right. If I lay the smack down on some Evil Overlord who opened the encounter chuckling maniacally from his gem-studded golden throne, that throne is Gold McNuggets ten minutes afterwards, or possibly just resprayed with the serial numbers filed off and magically shrunk. Either way I expect to ...

Woo-hoo! The Copenhagen Interpretation of "getting the shit kicked out of you". Bohr would have thrown a fit.

So what's the best touch AC people are coming up with for levels 10, 15 and 20? 'Cos that seriously is all you care about later on. Casters screwing their melee AC's up to ludicrous heights isn't even terribly relevant; if they're in a position to get hit in the first place they're pretty much doin...

So what's the best touch AC people are coming up with for levels 10, 15 and 20? 'Cos that seriously is all you care about later on. Casters screwing their melee AC's up to ludicrous heights isn't even terribly relevant; if they're in a position to get hit in the first place they're pretty much doing...

But you've got to do lethal damage up until that point because there's no nonlethal damage. Having reduced him to ragged, bloody shreds over the course of many boring rounds, you can then choose to knock him out rather than kill him by conjuring a ball of sulphuric acid into his face.

Neat.

Sure, adventures like that can be fun, but you know what's lame? Having to roll to climb walls for more than a few levels. I tend to agree, but with caveats. It sucks to have to roll to climb walls for more than a few levels if your character is one that ought to be good at climbing walls . I've go...

Warlocks can pick up The Dead Walk at 6th level if you care, but you've got to have a handy supply of stiffs to make your zombie buddies out of. You'd be taking that at the cost of being able to fly though. You couldn't even pick up Fell Flight with the Extra Invocation feat until 11th level, by whi...

Yeah, and the ones you care about *do* make touch attacks. Dragons are just going to grapple your ass, and they are going to win until you die from it. EDIT: Having scanned through the CR15 monsters, AC other than "touch AC" is effectively meaningless for the majority of the beasties on th...

C-c-c-combo! I Know Something You Don't Know You are in possession of information absolutely vital to the success of the PC's mission. Requirement: Gnome, Goblin or Kobold Benefit: For some reason that may never be adequately determined, you have personally been selected as unlikely confidante to th...

Seconded on the summonings; particularly Summon Undead as undead creatures are flat-out immune to half the traps. However, it's worth noting that the errata'd version of Divine Metamagic only allows you to apply the feat to a metamagic feat you already have, which means you'll need to pick up Extend...

Well, some of your examples are pretty problematic. For example, a shrieker isn't much of an encounter by itself; it's only interesting as a trigger for another encounter. Formians are a social species, and only the workers are less than CR1. I guess if you can come up with a reason for some formia...

Since I forgot to include this in my earlier post: I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the problem with Level 1 from the DM's perspective. If you want to run a standard dungeon/wilderness adventure, you're really limited in your choice of opponents at Level 1. The only suspense is whether you'll be fi...