Since each game takes place in the game master's world, that game master is free to alter the rules of the game as they see fit (although informing the players of the changes is usually wise). What are some of the alterations you play by?
1) Felines get a +8 racial bonus to grapple checks.
You can get some sense of the reasoning behind this just by picking up a house cat that doesn't want to leave the ground. It will twist, curl and eventually escape your grasp. Consider the way the big cats actually fight, and a heavy bonus to grapple checks seems obvious.
2) Reroll initiative at the beginning of each combat round.
It helps simulate the chaos of a fight a bit more, and keeps things a bit fresher. It's not really feasible in pbp, but in person, it is interesting.
Oh, wow, I have a zillion. Some of these are from my gaming group IRL.
1. Any class can take Weapon Specialization after 4th level. If a wizard can specialize in ray spells, then why can't a ranger specialize in the bow?!
2. Sorcerers gain Eschew Material Components as a bonus feat for 1st level, and a bonus metamagic feat or draconic heritage feat at 5th, 10th, etc. This way, you might actually want to be a sorcerer for more than the levels required to prestige.
3. (New one) Humans choose any four skills at character creation. These skills are forever class skills.
4. Half elves may choose at character creation whether they trance for four hours or sleep for eight.
5. Favored Class does not exist. This is the dumbest thing in D&D.
6. Mage Armor counts for the Abjurant Champion's ability, despite errata to the contrary.
7. Mountain Tombstone Strike gives a Fort save for half Con damage. (Not mine; I don't nerf martial adepts.)
8. Arcane Heirophants must be neutral, and LN counts.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
'All arcane casters can cast any 0-level spell a number of times per day equal to 3 plus Int modifier'
It saves a lot of trouble and worry. Cantrips are so near-useless except when they're crucial.
Oh, i think you just made Spellthief playable.. And Hexblade got a lot better too (Not that they needed it..). At higher levels this doesn't really matter, and it'd be fun at lower levels. I like it, but i feel that it's a bit too strong at lower levels. There are strong cantrips after all - Caltrops for one is extremely nice for a Spellthief for example. It also gives access to Detect Magic and stuff like that for Warmages, who have their own spell list from which it was left out on purpose (Though i'll never get wizards on this one.. No Detect Magic.. What the..) I think it should be fine in most games though..
What about warlock though? They are counted as arcane spellcasting class.. And i seriously think it should be 3+Primary Spellcasting Ability Modifier. You don't want to nerf sorcerer when compared to wizard more, do you?
@AoK: I really like your set, but one strikes me. The human class skills.. Human is already one of the strongest player races in a game with no LA buyoff, and well.. Buffing them more isn't going to help it. This also allows way for extremely stupid multiclass qualifications, human wizards with 1 level dip in bard would qualify for our precious Sublime Chord. Just imagine..
Human Bard 1 / Wizard 5 / Incantatrix 4 / Sublime Chord 1 / Ultimate Magus 9 = 20th level character, wizard casting as 18th level wizard, Sublime chord casting as 7th level SC (8th level spells..). It'd also reach 9th level arcane from spontantenous side at 23rd level. (Oh, and it's arcane caster level for Sublime Chord would be 28 at 20th level.. Because you choose the order to which effects apply, you could apply practiced spellcaster to both wizard and Sublime Chord to make it 34.)
Then again, not everyone looks into houserules from a perspective of breaking it, like i do.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Oh, i think you just made Spellthief playable.. And Hexblade got a lot better too (Not that they needed it..). At higher levels this doesn't really matter, and it'd be fun at lower levels. I like it, but i feel that it's a bit too strong at lower levels. There are strong cantrips after all - Caltrops for one is extremely nice for a Spellthief for example. It also gives access to Detect Magic and stuff like that for Warmages, who have their own spell list from which it was left out on purpose (Though i'll never get wizards on this one.. No Detect Magic.. What the..) I think it should be fine in most games though..
What about warlock though? They are counted as arcane spellcasting class.. And i seriously think it should be 3+Primary Spellcasting Ability Modifier. You don't want to nerf sorcerer when compared to wizard more, do you?
@AoK: I really like your set, but one strikes me. The human class skills.. Human is already one of the strongest player races in a game with no LA buyoff, and well.. Buffing them more isn't going to help it. This also allows way for extremely stupid multiclass qualifications, human wizards with 1 level dip in bard would qualify for our precious Sublime Chord. Just imagine..
Human Bard 1 / Wizard 5 / Incantatrix 4 / Sublime Chord 1 / Ultimate Magus 9 = 20th level character, wizard casting as 18th level wizard, Sublime chord casting as 7th level SC (8th level spells..). It'd also reach 9th level arcane from spontantenous side at 23rd level. (Oh, and it's arcane caster level for Sublime Chord would be 28 at 20th level.. Because you choose the order to which effects apply, you could apply practiced spellcaster to both wizard and Sublime Chord to make it 34.)
Then again, not everyone looks into houserules from a perspective of breaking it, like i do.
I do, but only as a mental exercise, and to make sure my players don't try and do anything TOO stupid.
Practiced Spellcaster can't raise caster level beyond your hit dice. Sorry. Admittedly, it's a useful feat for multicasters, and I highly advocate its use. Also, Seeker of the Song > Sublime Chord. At least, I think so.
I gave humans the bonus skills because no one wants to play humans. We use Unearthed Arcana's flaws (modifed so you actually have to have at least one that screws you over in a fairly major way; got tired of casters taking Shaky and Noncombatant) so the extra feat is a nonissue; it really hasn't been unbalancing, and I play with an entire group of powergamers.
As for your sample; so what? The warblade 16/ fighter 4 (Dungeon Crasher) could STILL kick his ass halfway to next Tuesday without breaking a sweat.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
Infact, you raise you choose the order in which the effects apply, therefore you could apply Practiced Spellcaster first, and after it apply the stacking effect from Sublime Chord. I think there's custserv answer about it somewhere in Wizards boards that confirms this. It works RAW, but i'm not sure if the designers ever intended it to work.
And you're thinking about a fair fight with the Dungeoncrasher there, wizards have the power of making fights unfair, such as using Disjunction with optimized save DCs to dispel his ways of flying, then just flying over his head at height of 100 feet and throwing everything funny at him. If you try to argue about the fact that wizard didn't see the Warblade coming, i argue about the fact that wizards can scry and warblades can't.
Then i present: As completely unrelated fact on topic of caster levels.
Quote from Eldritch Lord »
1) Be an Illumian (Krau) and take 3 bloodline levels: +5 to CL. Take 5 levels of wizard.
2) Pick any 10 arcane casting classes aside from wizard; there are enough out there. Take 1 level of each in them.
3) Take a level of Sublime Chord. Take enough Practiced Spellcaster to get you to CL 20 in Sublime Chord. SC CL is SC levels + another class's levels, which if added to wizard is 20+5=25, plus bloodline and Krau is CL 30 at level 20.
4) Now all the other classes have CL 30 at level 20 also, which is (10+wiz+SC) * 30 = 360.
5) Take a level of Ur-Priest. (360/2)+1 = CL 181.
6) Grab a staff of your choice containing blasphemy, maw of chaos, or the spell of your choice.
7) Enjoy.
In short: Autokill everything that opposes your alignment with less than 171 HD.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
And we get into the old Wizards' boards argument: RAW as opposed to RAI. Now, I agree that in theory, according to RAW, it should work.
By RAI and all logic, it shouldn't, and we both know this; I've already read your arguments regarding Thought Bottles in your campaign thread, and while it IS your campaign and therefore you have the right to set rules or ban things at your discretion, I find that it is often easier not to ban an item completely but limit it. In the case of the thought bottle, if I were the DM, I'd let you have your "save point". That's all, though- any shenanigans involving item creation would result in a group of Mechanus' best beating down your door. This of course discounts any attempted save points created using psionics; but I'm sure that you've read all about that, so we'll move on.
Of course, certain things go out the window; starmantle cloak + retributive amulet + evasion is one of these; that interaction is completely ridiculous. Nightsticks are the same way- no problem with DMM clerics in general, just for the love of god don't be stupid about it.
As for your scrying and such, magic items can fix that problem; a third eye conceal stops anything short of metafaculty. How many psions do YOU know of packing that power? Then we can add in an area that blocks out certain schools of magic leaving others active; the feat's in a third party supplement but for the sake of argument we'll say it's legal. If you start talking initiate of Mystra here, this discussion is over
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
What about unlimited Knowledge checks to know where you are, or unlimited Gather Information?
Yes, i know it shouldn't work RAI, pun-pun doesn't work RAI either. If we start thinking that there was an all-knowing DM at the table, all things would be equal but we all know that they really aren't.
*Gives the final blow for this thread to go offtopic*
Okay, let's see what i'd do if i wanted to get rid of your character. (Pre-epic. If this was epic i'd just design my own spell that would go through the given protections. But that'd take the point out of this conversation, wouldn't it?) 1) Take a hapless minnion (Preferably with a weak will save).
2) Tie this minnion down.
3) Cast Mindrape on the minnion and imprint into their mind "you love [Your Character's Name] more than anybody else in the world."
4) Cast Love's Pain on the poor minion repeatedly.
5) ???????
6) PROFIT!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
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1) Felines get a +8 racial bonus to grapple checks.
You can get some sense of the reasoning behind this just by picking up a house cat that doesn't want to leave the ground. It will twist, curl and eventually escape your grasp. Consider the way the big cats actually fight, and a heavy bonus to grapple checks seems obvious.
2) Reroll initiative at the beginning of each combat round.
It helps simulate the chaos of a fight a bit more, and keeps things a bit fresher. It's not really feasible in pbp, but in person, it is interesting.
1. Any class can take Weapon Specialization after 4th level. If a wizard can specialize in ray spells, then why can't a ranger specialize in the bow?!
2. Sorcerers gain Eschew Material Components as a bonus feat for 1st level, and a bonus metamagic feat or draconic heritage feat at 5th, 10th, etc. This way, you might actually want to be a sorcerer for more than the levels required to prestige.
3. (New one) Humans choose any four skills at character creation. These skills are forever class skills.
4. Half elves may choose at character creation whether they trance for four hours or sleep for eight.
5. Favored Class does not exist. This is the dumbest thing in D&D.
6. Mage Armor counts for the Abjurant Champion's ability, despite errata to the contrary.
7. Mountain Tombstone Strike gives a Fort save for half Con damage. (Not mine; I don't nerf martial adepts.)
8. Arcane Heirophants must be neutral, and LN counts.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
2. Encumberance is unnecessary, at least to the degree that they make it important. Only if it's obvious would a player be weighed down.
I got more, but I'll post em later!
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
The DM reserves the right to role-play your character if you don't post in a reasonable time without advance warning.
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
'All arcane casters can cast any 0-level spell a number of times per day equal to 3 plus Int modifier'
It saves a lot of trouble and worry. Cantrips are so near-useless except when they're crucial.
Like freeform roleplaying? Try Darkness Befalls Us
Ryttare Kelasin Luna Orelinalei
Oh, i think you just made Spellthief playable.. And Hexblade got a lot better too (Not that they needed it..). At higher levels this doesn't really matter, and it'd be fun at lower levels. I like it, but i feel that it's a bit too strong at lower levels. There are strong cantrips after all - Caltrops for one is extremely nice for a Spellthief for example. It also gives access to Detect Magic and stuff like that for Warmages, who have their own spell list from which it was left out on purpose (Though i'll never get wizards on this one.. No Detect Magic.. What the..) I think it should be fine in most games though..
What about warlock though? They are counted as arcane spellcasting class.. And i seriously think it should be 3+Primary Spellcasting Ability Modifier. You don't want to nerf sorcerer when compared to wizard more, do you?
@AoK: I really like your set, but one strikes me. The human class skills.. Human is already one of the strongest player races in a game with no LA buyoff, and well.. Buffing them more isn't going to help it. This also allows way for extremely stupid multiclass qualifications, human wizards with 1 level dip in bard would qualify for our precious Sublime Chord. Just imagine..
Human Bard 1 / Wizard 5 / Incantatrix 4 / Sublime Chord 1 / Ultimate Magus 9 = 20th level character, wizard casting as 18th level wizard, Sublime chord casting as 7th level SC (8th level spells..). It'd also reach 9th level arcane from spontantenous side at 23rd level. (Oh, and it's arcane caster level for Sublime Chord would be 28 at 20th level.. Because you choose the order to which effects apply, you could apply practiced spellcaster to both wizard and Sublime Chord to make it 34.)
Then again, not everyone looks into houserules from a perspective of breaking it, like i do.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
I do, but only as a mental exercise, and to make sure my players don't try and do anything TOO stupid.
Practiced Spellcaster can't raise caster level beyond your hit dice. Sorry. Admittedly, it's a useful feat for multicasters, and I highly advocate its use. Also, Seeker of the Song > Sublime Chord. At least, I think so.
I gave humans the bonus skills because no one wants to play humans. We use Unearthed Arcana's flaws (modifed so you actually have to have at least one that screws you over in a fairly major way; got tired of casters taking Shaky and Noncombatant) so the extra feat is a nonissue; it really hasn't been unbalancing, and I play with an entire group of powergamers.
As for your sample; so what? The warblade 16/ fighter 4 (Dungeon Crasher) could STILL kick his ass halfway to next Tuesday without breaking a sweat.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
And you're thinking about a fair fight with the Dungeoncrasher there, wizards have the power of making fights unfair, such as using Disjunction with optimized save DCs to dispel his ways of flying, then just flying over his head at height of 100 feet and throwing everything funny at him. If you try to argue about the fact that wizard didn't see the Warblade coming, i argue about the fact that wizards can scry and warblades can't.
Then i present: As completely unrelated fact on topic of caster levels.
In short: Autokill everything that opposes your alignment with less than 171 HD.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
By RAI and all logic, it shouldn't, and we both know this; I've already read your arguments regarding Thought Bottles in your campaign thread, and while it IS your campaign and therefore you have the right to set rules or ban things at your discretion, I find that it is often easier not to ban an item completely but limit it. In the case of the thought bottle, if I were the DM, I'd let you have your "save point". That's all, though- any shenanigans involving item creation would result in a group of Mechanus' best beating down your door. This of course discounts any attempted save points created using psionics; but I'm sure that you've read all about that, so we'll move on.
Of course, certain things go out the window; starmantle cloak + retributive amulet + evasion is one of these; that interaction is completely ridiculous. Nightsticks are the same way- no problem with DMM clerics in general, just for the love of god don't be stupid about it.
As for your scrying and such, magic items can fix that problem; a third eye conceal stops anything short of metafaculty. How many psions do YOU know of packing that power? Then we can add in an area that blocks out certain schools of magic leaving others active; the feat's in a third party supplement but for the sake of argument we'll say it's legal.
If you start talking initiate of Mystra here, this discussion is over
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
Yes, i know it shouldn't work RAI, pun-pun doesn't work RAI either. If we start thinking that there was an all-knowing DM at the table, all things would be equal but we all know that they really aren't.
*Gives the final blow for this thread to go offtopic*
Okay, let's see what i'd do if i wanted to get rid of your character. (Pre-epic. If this was epic i'd just design my own spell that would go through the given protections. But that'd take the point out of this conversation, wouldn't it?)
1) Take a hapless minnion (Preferably with a weak will save).
2) Tie this minnion down.
3) Cast Mindrape on the minnion and imprint into their mind "you love [Your Character's Name] more than anybody else in the world."
4) Cast Love's Pain on the poor minion repeatedly.
5) ???????
6) PROFIT!
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Unsure if that would work, but it sounds legal; just as cheesy as using Explosive Spell/Locate City, though.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.