Search results

I find that solo scouts have a lot to say in terms of determining what course of action the party will choose and what the terms of engagement will be, if any. It's hard to quantify that benefit, but it seems large to me. Well, 3e gives us the 1000 gp Ring of Darkvision (or Darksight or...

I agree with that goal, though I'm hard pressed to think of examples where it really has gotten to that point. The rote example is the cleric as the healer, but I don't think it's essential, nor is it all that exclusive (though the earlier you go, the more so it was).

I think the Hellbred race (FCII) could be nicely coopted into either a willing partner or an unwilling servant of Vecna. And the Cha bonus could make for a nice warlock or sorcerer. A Jerren (BoVD) rogue would be a nice evil twist on the conventional halfling rogue, and very useful. Straight-up...

If two completely disparate mechanical frameworks could conceivably be applied to the same situation, that isn't a very well-designed set of rules. Whoa there, tiger! That sounds like some DM fiat to me. I'm not sure what the point of that semantic distinction is. In all three cases, there are...

One of my more influential books however, was the 3e Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. When you actually consider the resources it would take to protect something using traps, it's just impractical. They're extremely expensive, and usually very beatable. Obviously, this is not what Gygax was...

Is that actually within the rules? I'm skeptical. Even if it is, the implications are unsettling. What happens when PCs start trying to circumvent the combat rules for other monsters. I knew I was playing 3e for a reason. My sense of the broader reality is that this is one of the many areas...

I have never heard of anyone who plays D&D and, for example, believes that not all people in the world possess a strength score, or that the strength score is not an objective measure of how much physical strength each character has. Any creature of any type can be directly compared with regards...

The rules are the only things we know about D&D. Classes are the only way we know of describing D&D characters. Hit points are the only way we know of describing their health. If we don't assume that the rules we know about are the ones that determine everything that happens in this fictional...

...also known as "D&D".

I'm pretty sure any DM can decide what opponents he wants to throw at the PCs.

To me, there are two appropriate ways to handle these things. The bard's music and the rogue's trapfinding both do it wrong. One way would be to make an optional set of abilities, so you can choose to delve in to performance/traps/etc. if you want to. The other would be to have the ability built...

That's like saying if a bard doesn't max his Perform skill, he isn't a musician.

Knock yourself out. True; it does run the risk of simply being too complex. I don't so much like the idea of tying a rogue to a theme though. To me, the rogue class is about versatility.

I definitely agree re: undead being much more common than traps. However, my issue with the trap thing is somewhat different. Regardless of how often it does or does not come up, my issue is does it fit the concept? Would I reasonably expect that every rogue character would have this expertise...

One thing I don't like from PF is skill consolidation. I'd much rather spread things out than clump them together There are a number of classes in PF that get skill bonuses above and beyond those types of feats; it's part of how things work. I've expanded the concept so that most classes get...

? That I don't see at all. It's true that +1 isn't much. But one other thing I'm fighting that's inherently a challenge with class/level systems is determination. When do you decide who you are? My belief is that each level should bring new developments and choices. If you start out as the trap...

The bookkeeping concern is legitimate. However, I think the rogue class is one of the least bookkeep-y to begin with, and I find that situational modifiers encourage creative, rogue-ish play wherein players try to contrive the situation that activates the bonus. It's amazing what people will do...

To a great extent, the ideas of choose-your-own class features and archetypes are supposed to prevent that. You have to give something up to get something. The number of options the class conveys can increase, but the number of abilities an individual character possesses remains the same. Also...

Well, the first one is this: For trap sense, I just made the rogue special ability progression start at level 1, and gave Trapfinding as one option. For many of the classes I hew close to the PF versions, or start there and rewrite them slightly to reflect other rules concepts I use from TB...

There are so many Trap Sense variants at this point, that I think it's more appropriate to just present it as one class ability that you can choose variants of (like favored enemy or something). You get a +1/3 levels to some minor stuff; each rogue picks which minor stuff it is. I have a list...