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??? So this "cleric" holds a "Circle of Death" scroll, a handy device for any Sorcerer or Wizard... Does the cleric somehow have Use Magic Device for the DC 30+ check? Does he have high Int or high Cha to avoid the other UMD test ? I think it was meant as treasure, and not as a usable item...

Wimpy Trolling post removed - Plane Sailing

Rapier Historically, this weapon came to the fore when people abandoned armor made useless by firearms. No sense in lugging around a scrapyard of steel when a 2 pound weapon (a pistol) can make you see your innards... The rapier would have been useless against a heavily armored opponent. And...

Change You Approach to Traps Want to liven up the death rate of your game? Make rogues more appealing by making traps nastier... WAY nastier... Make heavy use of poison. Make Poison Save or Die. Squash adventurers with 10-ton blocks of stone dropped from a height. 1E days were good days...

1 hour per level... When reaching level 12+, these all tend to be cast when going to bed... Next day, the forays hardly last much more than 4+ hours. Any creature likely to have survived the "human hunters" or the "elven blight" for any amount of time will KNOW to Dispel (if they can).

Blind-Fight I'll remove Dodging and Dex from the target... But would limit the penalty if the target knows Blindfighting. And I will penalize the attacker unless he has Blindfight. High Int or Wis may eliminate or mitigate penalties: you must envision or imagine "where" your blade or other...

Five Seconds? Yes, and? I usually resolve that in five seconds or less. Now if you face circumstances where the DM and the rogue player like to roleplay every stone, every iron hinge or brass latch, every sconce, yes, it would become annoying. Try this: tell them it is ming-bogglingly...

Crit Damage And I still favor multiplying instead of throwing multiple dice. Nice linear statistical distribution. Ex: d12 X 3. Instead of a "bell" distribution. Ex: 3d12, centering on a value of 19.5. 1) Easier to do 2) Less time wasted

Sigh! 8th lvl Barbarian power-attacking into a 50-80 damage range crit? Yes... That is the game you (we) play! A greataxe +2, with modified Str yielding +6, at 3d12 + 18... No Power Attack yet and we already have a possibility of surpassing 50 hp damage. BAB 8 dedicated to 2H PA and you get a...

Be Sensible My players know that using a nice metallic weapon on a Will-o-wisp tends to be an electrifying experience: you take damage as though the creature had attacked you... Think of someone standing there with a welder's rod in hand: the rod cares naught if you touch it or if it touches...

Gave Players Buff Options / 3.5 Changes 2 pts for 3e duration / 4 pts for 3.5 duration The short Fly sucks. The 2nd level Spider Climb (thank you Andy) sucks Many small 3.5 changes sucked... Did I mention I thought they sucked ? Also, the whole weaponry golf-bag Magic weap / Greater Magic...

Dead Wrong The 2 for 1 bit works great... on kobolds... How many "soft" (low AC) targets does your game contain when the party members achieve significant levels??? As to "history", NOBODY ever favored two-handed weapons until 3e... The probability of magical two-handers from earlier treasure...

Battle Fatigue Brings on Ruin Playing too often and too much over a relatively short time span can lead to "I've had enough!"

The Statistics School "Cracker Jack Box" Diploma ***whistles in a descending tone, in perplexed and rather sardonic fashion*** Power Attack "This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. " Translation: Power Attack bonus (or switch) may not exceed BAB. So this is really great for a...

Follow DMG Advice... The DMG gives you a rough sketch of wealth. It also spells out how much treasure for a given encounter. Most opinions tend to follow these lines: - DMG may be a little generous, and many DMs like to tighten the money and magic supply - A little over recommended wealth...

Let Them Fall Where They May If the 10th level character meets a lonely kobold, that's it! If it's a demonic critter, same thing! You "can" seek a CR equivalent fight, but I always ran it as a standard encounter, with other characters stepping in if things go awry (forfeiting the bonus if it...

Bad! Define "pretty awful". Unless the character had specific reason to use his Wish that way, he wouldn't. And other PCs would not necessarily "know" he'd drawn a wish. Why would they moan and complain about their faithful directions? They would have been happy and blissful. It all depends...

Plot Hooks 1 - Bounty / reward 2 - Myth / Legend and rumors 3 - Official request 4 - Personal history / family traits 5 - Sorcerer turns green, red-veined, with nice purple splotches (permanent) while Str drops slowly; engaging, no? I think I manage to keep it varied enough. Other current...

Roll With It! You either accept the hgh-magic setting or reject it! Forgotten Realms are high flaunted magic... That setting is even one or two steps above high-magic. Other games or versions of D&D (d20 settings such as Black Company) dampen that a lot. If you want to impose serious limits...

The Young & The Restless We scorn games that are supposed to be 100% in character. Because they are impossible. Nothing is ever 100% in character. How do you pass the popcorn? Negative XP for punds, bad or otherwise? Really? You'd get kicked out of ALL the groups I ever played with so fast...