quote:Wait... what? I know I haven't played in a decade (OK, maybe two decades), but what kind of spell has that kind of cost?
Should a spell require the sacrifice of XP to achieve...
quote:Miracle or Wish spells I think. There are others.
Originally posted by Nighthawk:
quote:Wait... what? I know I haven't played in a decade (OK, maybe two decades), but what kind of spell has that kind of cost?
Should a spell require the sacrifice of XP to achieve...
quote:That's what I meant, too. And that's already in the rules. I believe the creature has to be willing to answer the summons, however, unless you've got specific feats, and can demand favors of you (per Gate) in order to be willing. And if the creature dies and is not extraplanar, it's dead.
By individual creatures I mean individual creatures with names/personality as in choosing the same ones.
quote:Not necessarily. Many viable builds are low-DEX, high-STR. And since the armor check penalty applies to DEX checks, too, you're going to have a lot of dwarven soldiers dropping their hammers all over the place.
Also wouldn't a seasoned warrior be able to succeed his Dex roll?
quote:Unless you intend to actually run a series of quests designed to retrieve a rare spell component -- which the non-spellcasters in your party might not enjoy -- the truth (in my experience, at least) is that consumable items which are rare enough to go questing for are almost never the actual object of quests. You probably have a plotline in mind, and running a subquest so that a player doesn't have to burn 25XP is not going to be something you'll want to do too often. So you'll wind up introducing these rare components as gifts or bribes or occasionally the bait of a trap, but almost never as quests. Just keep that in mind.
Power Compenents: The suporior compenents would also for example say give an addition 1d6 and etc etc but they'ld be rare enough to be worth questing for.
quote:But that's not what you get. Since the roll is randomized, a measure of innate willpower doesn't come into it at all. And Spell Resistance has nothing to do with the DC of the spell, or how difficult it is to resist. There is already a feat that increases the DCs of all spells from a given school, and another feat that increases those DCs further. There are also a number of feats designed to reduce or bypass enemy Spell Resistance. A Raistlin-like character in D&D3E would be assumed to have purchased those feats, not to be randomly determining his DCs.
The Idea for a spell roll is if applied the way I want to apply it allowed for a certain Raistlin Effect where a spell caster with suitable high will power can overcome the spell resistences of higher spell casters etc.
quote:You're confusing SR with saving throws. The DC of a spell has no effect on Spell Resistance, which is checked independently of the DC. Note that the existing DC of a spell is 10 + spell level + stat modifier, which means that a first-level spell cast by a wizard with an INT of 18 will have a DC of 15 (plus any feat modifiers, etc.) And a sixth-level spell cast by someone with a stat modifier of +4 would be DC 20. Note that the caster level is irrelevant here.
Say I cast Fire Ball thats a level 3 spell, and I have Intelligence say +5 so thats 3+5+1d20 + Possibly Will Save I don't think its that random and adds some idea of excitement, and theres a benefit now its not a foregone conclusion when fighting creatures with high SR.
quote:Seconded, underlined multiple times, and circled in red. On a related note, at this beginning stage, you shouldn't be dealing with characters who are anywhere near having spells like Wish. I've been there and done that... resist the lure of the cool high-powered stuff and just go with basic low-leveled adventures at the outset, lest you suddenly find yourself in a world in which everyone rules their own island kingdom. (Seriously, this happened in the campaign I first played in.)
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
Don't use house rules until you know the original rules.
quote:X-Men 3.
Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
What beats Fire Cold? Or Does Cold beat fire? If a Cone of Fire met a Cone of Cold of equal power what happens?
quote:This is actually a fairly major advantage. I'd spec it out this way:
Because its useful? Being able to switch between a far range weapon to a close range weapon with ease?
code:-------Gunblade
Two-handed Exotic weapon
Damage: 1d6 19-20x2 ranged, single
1d6+2 19-20x3 ranged, dual-bore
1d8x2 melee
Range increment: 50'
The gunblade is a short-hafted, dual-bore
polearm capable of firing one sling bullet
out of each bore (either together or singly.)
When used as a firearm, both barrels may be
fired at a single target as one attack and
resolved with a single roll with a +2 to-hit
bonus and enhanced damage; otherwise, each
barrel may be fired separately. Reloading each
barrel of the gunblade is a complicated process
that takes a standard action (not a movement
action) and consumes gunpowder, padding, and a
sling bullet. Use of the Quick Reload feat
reduces this time to a movement action.
Shifting the gunblade into position for use
as a melee weapon (or back to a ranged weapon)
requires a free action.
quote:No. Some creatures and spell effects have special vulnerability to other effects, but those are always listed in the description. Do not invent vulnerabilities where not listed, because that will imbalance certain things.
What beats Fire Cold? Or Does Cold beat fire?
quote:I think you're confusing Summon Monster with Planar Ally.
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
That's what I meant, too. And that's already in the rules. I believe the creature has to be willing to answer the summons, however, unless you've got specific feats, and can demand favors of you (per Gate) in order to be willing. And if the creature dies and is not extraplanar, it's dead.
quote:If the guns themselves did more damage, I'd probably change this to a full round action per barrel (I seriously doubt even a seasoned vet from the napoleonic wars could reload a musket in 3 seconds, even 6 seconds is pretty rediculous).
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
[CODE]Reloading each
barrel of the gunblade is a complicated process
that takes a standard action (not a movement
action) and consumes gunpowder, padding, and a
sling bullet. Use of the Quick Reload feat
reduces this time to a movement action.
quote:I considered this, but the difficulty of determining whether the weapon is loaded at the start of a combat -- especially since it'd be so advantageous for that to be true -- argued against it, IMO. I mean, if you bump the damage up to something ridiculous, this item becomes something like a Sword of Massive Ranged Damage (usable once per encounter).
I'd ramp up the damage a lot...
quote:The advantage of level 5 is endurence, its easier to persist and keep doing encounters over a longer period at level 5 with roughly 30-60 hp and some 20 total spell slots then at level one where after essentially one "tough" encounter you need to rest.
Originally posted by The Pixiest:
Blayne: Why not start at level 1? Part of the joy of D&D is pulling your characters up by their bootstraps. Starting at lvl 5 is bypassing kobolds and goblins and orcs.
In my hubby's campaign, a "fumble" had to be confirmed with a 2nd D20 roll of 5 or less. Then he consulted a table (which I never saw) to decide if the weapon was dropped, broken, what have you. It wasn't tied to dex because that would have harmed the plate-fighters and helped the dex-fighters. (unbalancing)
Instant death on extra lucky crits will kill your players. I'm sure it'll be fun for the PCs when they get one on a monster, but it will be less fun when the monsters get one on the PCs. And the monsters generally get more tries.
If I were you, I'd keep it as simple as possible. There's a LOT of rules you need to know and you're going to be fumbling over them for a while. There is no reason to make it extra difficult.
Which ties back in to starting at level 1. Fewer powers means fewer interruptions to look up exactly what it does and when it does/doesn't work.
There is no hierarchy of elements. Fire doesn't beat cold or vice versa. If people on the same round cast fireball and cone of cold, you would roll the dice and assign damage. That's that. However, it should be noted that fewer mobs have resistance to Sonic than any other form of energy. "Energy Substitution: Sonic" is a feat worth taking.
quote:In all seriousness, by the way, you should try Fourth Edition. It is actually written specifically to address some of the things you've found wanting in Third Edition.
The advantage of level 5 is endurence, its easier to persist and keep doing encounters over a longer period at level 5 with roughly 30-60 hp and some 20 total spell slots...
quote:Hey! I resemble that remark!
Originally posted by El JT de Spang:
But I agree with you that it's better to slog through a game with an inexperienced DM than to not play at all.