Search results

Normally, I'm with you, but this one wasn't too bad. If the PCs solve it, they get a nice bonus that really helps later on in the adventure. If they don't, it basically solves itself after five minutes. I think that's a pretty good way to use a puzzle.

I ran two sessions and they both went pretty well, considering that none of us was terribly familiar with the rules. I'll echo most of the comments here about the animated statues -- 86 hp each was a bit much. The second time I ran them I reduced them to 66 hp to get them over with a little...

I don't know, I think that assumption might make it easier to build a coherent game world (I'm thinking of things like the rule that only those who have a special destiny or whatnot can be raised). It allows me to keep most of the world operating in a basically familiar and predictable fashion...

Sorry, I wasn't trying to make a statement that the beholder sucks based on that experience, just relaying a story. Obviously randomly choosing the rays is going to lead to some pretty suboptimal results. As a group, we tend to limit save-or-die situations as a general rule, since we don't...

Same with me, until a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't worth the wait, alas. The beholder actually surprised the party, but it got very unlucky. The PCs were all in the same arc, and I had the players roll randomly to decide which rays they were facing. They didn't get any of the SoDs, two of...

Fair enough, that's one way of looking at it. And with respect to abandoning the "sim crowds," I'll have to agree. But I prefer to see it as WotC making the game as written a better match for the game as actually played -- even, to some extent, as it was played back in the day by old school...

This is how the game was written, and maybe how it was actually played at Gary's table, and presumably other tables. However, I was there in 1980, too, and a lot of this stuff just wasn't true IME. The game may have assumed a ton of henchmen and hirelings, but I never actually saw them in...

Sure. And maybe a character sheet for Mordenkainen.

Just as a small gesture, maybe leave an empty chair for him at every table.

It's not 10 minutes, though. I'd wager that for most groups -- it's certainly true for mine -- combat takes up at least half the actual real time spent at the table. It's hours. Combat effectiveness has to be the holy grail for designers, because it's where the vast majority of the rules...

This is just baffling. Wouldn't it make more sense for the designers to create a range of classes with different but equally interesting and effective skills, and then have the individual players underplay them if they so choose? I could roll a 3.5 wizard with a 9 Intelligence right now and...

I'd argue that even if the 4e bard does those things well, it would still suck. IMO, it's not so much that the 3e bard is inept at being a support character, it's that being a support character in 3e is inherently lame. Playing a 3e bard is like being called upon to sacrifice bunt every single...

The druid at my table is the same way. He's core only, and the player is not a powergamer at all. He just picked the most logical feats and spells and ended up with a monster. And it's not just the power; it's the time spent during his turn in combat, as we slog through the claw/claw/bites...

Maure Castle. I like the adventure quite a bit, but...

Wow, no one from the Twin Cities has replied yet? Source Comics and Games 1601 W. Larpenteur Ave. Falcon Heights, MN 55113 651.645.0386 www.sourcecandg.com

I agree completely with the goal of not making underwater adventuring even more of a pain than it already is, but there is this: A dragon's breath weapon being (Su), I'd argue that by RAW, a red dragon can't use his breath underwater. Other types of breath weapons appear to be unaffected.

Taking the thread slightly off-topic here, but I'm guessing it's because undead and constructs are just so damn useful in dungeon-design terms. You can put 'em anywhere, since they don't really have an ecology. What's in the Lost Vault of Whatever, that hasn't been opened in 10,000 years...

I'd say this is pretty much a certainty.

Apparently I do, at least enough to take the mighty step of posting my thoughts semi-anonymously on the Internet. What is your objection, exactly? All I'm saying is that the proofreading on this document is pretty embarrassing.

OK, so when do we get errata for the errata? There are more. Nice copy editing, WotC.