DMs: Share your strategies/tricks for making 3.5 more manageable

[coyote6]

Get rid of Buffspells!

Or get rid of dispel magic as a debuff; IME, the major hassle comes when folks have to refigure numbers in combat, so either buffs in combat, or debuffs (especially area ones) slow things down.

I don't find grapples especially slow things down; I think we've got grapples down (at least the way we do 'em, which I think is mostly by RAW). The only real impact they have is that they can be dangerous for PCs, but that usually tends to focus the players' attention, and often leads to the grappler dying rapidly.

Of course, the players don't initiate grapples very often, and the now-20th level PCs I'm GMing for are anti-grapple machines. Lots of bolt shirts; a sorcerer with dimension door, tactical teleport, and benign transposition; two or three people with rings of freedom of movement; a fighter with the +10 to resist grapple augment crystal, Combat Reflexes, and Close Quarters Fighting (he got an 80-odd grapple check Saturday to resist being hugged by an advanced half-dragon dire bear); and the archer has Improved Precise Shot, so he can safely fire into grapples. So, nowadays, nobody stays grappled for long!

Another trick I sometimes use, stolen from Ben Robbins: the hit point pile.

 

[drothgery]

As the game got higher level, my NPC spellcasters became mostly Sorcerers, with special spell lists if they weren't Sorcerers before.

I've never DM'd 3.5, but I'd go even further than that. Unless there's a very good reason for them not to be, any spellcaster that engages in combat with the PCs is a warmage, beguiller, dread necromancer, or artificer (i.e. small fixed list, spontaneous caster). If they absolutely need a more varied list, they're a sorcerer or favored soul. Under no circumstances do NPC spellcasters have spellbooks.

 

[meomwt]

I've just started writing a set of adventures. Apart from using HeroForge and MonsterForge extensively to quickly generate NPC's and nasty monsters (Fiendish Medium Scorpion anyone?) I have started pasting the magic-users' spell statistics onto my write-ups (courtesy of d20 SRD engines) to minimise the amount of flipping through the PHB to get details.

Very useful IMO, especially if the spells are higher level which you are not familiar with.

Also, if you run random encounters, think about generating CR appropriate treasure packages ahead of time, then allocating the treasure after the encounter is over. Saves having to use the DMG Treasure Generator on the fly and keeps the game moving.

 

[Phaezen]

Not too sure if it counts as D&D3.x but I am preparing a Iron Heroes campaign.

Straight off the bat I am taking a lesson from 4e (as well as from AD&D 1 & 2) and designing monsters differently to characters. They have the AC, saves Hitpoints and abilities that are level appropriate without worrying too much about how they got there.

At the moment the AC and saves are mostly thumbsuck and are adjusted on the fly to make the encounter more exciting.

 

[S'mon]

1. The Quick NPC system - link in sig, but site is currently down I think.

2. More recently, running B/X and C&C modules for my 3.5 PCs, with barely-converted stats; typically "NPC bonus = level/hd".

 

[S'mon]

I've never DM'd 3.5, but I'd go even further than that. Unless there's a very good reason for them not to be, any spellcaster that engages in combat with the PCs is a warmage, beguiller, dread necromancer, or artificer (i.e. small fixed list, spontaneous caster). If they absolutely need a more varied list, they're a sorcerer or favored soul. Under no circumstances do NPC spellcasters have spellbooks.

An issue with this is that spontaneous casters make weak PCs but powerful NPCs. It's very easy to slaughter a PC party with a spont caster played effectively - precast defensive spells, ambush, then spam damage spells while your meat shields hold off the party is a great route to a TPK.

 

[meomwt]

1. The Quick NPC system - link in sig, but site is currently down I think.

If you check my blog (link in sig), there's a spreadsheet in one of the posts there which generates all the numbers for the Quick NPC System based on the CR being used to create him/ her/ it.

As a bonus, it includes abbreviated stats for 1hp minions with various "roles" again running right off their CR. Just check out the other wotksheet.

 

[Kraydak]

Among other things, always remember than optimization is a game for people on a limited budget (PCs, who have a defined, finite, XP income). For people w/o a limited budget (NPCs), you *could* spend hours flipping through supplements to squeeze out every last ounce of power, or you could just add an extra level. NPCs should be single classed if at all possible, and any PRCs they enter, they should enter in the obvious fashion. I'm in favor of tracking skills, BUT keep all skills at maximum value if at all reasonable (so Int+Class+Race number of skills, all at max).

The class-based system provides a quick and easy way to make fleshed-out NPCs (w/all the bells and whistles, just in case they come up!), but you have to use it as such.

Regardless, it is always the fiddliest bits that take the longest. Gear is the fiddliest bit, be it for NPCs or PCs. With the default magic item economy, players can deal with their own gear-sets, so LET them. Don't restrict their ability to buy/sell gear unless it is crucial to the campaign (BUT reserve the right to veto items in play, generally at the END of the session in which the problems become obvious, for full refund, including the ability to immediately purchase another toy). NPCs should have at most 1 non-bog-standard-big-6 item, chosen to fit the character.

And yes, in general, if you decide that an ability or item needs to go or that anything needs to be house-rule, wait until the end of the session before doing it unless it is completely and absurdly evident that it needs to happen. I would also suggest saying that it needs to go/be houseruled and asking for comments. Many things that look broken aren't, and many solutions also aren't. Give yourself time to think things over. For example, Scry-Buff-Teleport is very, very powerful, but it also has a LOT of counters already built into the game. You could nerf SBT, or you could study and use the counters. The later will provide more flavor long term, and make your world feel more organic. It will also make the PCs more special, because most of the counters to SBT involve fixed defenses for most (sane) NPCs to cower behind while the PCs are out in the open........

 

[ExploderWizard]

#1) Use only the rules/ splat material that you are comfortable with. If a mechanic/feature creates more problems than it solves, ditch it.

#2) See #1 and enjoy your game.

 

[Cadfan]

1. I didn't stat out enemies completely. I just set benchmarks for AC, saves, attack, and damage. I leave the rest out. After all, you don't usually need most of it. Lets say that your players drain 6 points of strength from an enemy. You don't need to know its total strength score unless it was 6 or below. You just need to know that whatever it was before, its now 6 points less.

2. I don't set spell lists for enemies. If I expect a bad guy to last 4 rounds in a fight, he has four spells. If he lasts 5 rounds unexpectantly, I'll just have him cast the same thing a second time.

3. I keep the game between levels 3 and 13.

4. I encourage the players to be cool. Some of them could create characters that are overpowered, but generally the players most knowledgeable about how to do this are also the players with the best understanding of the secret baseline of power that the game expects. They're fully capable of staying about on it if they choose.