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Not at all; I just want the chance of not finding an item to be based on player decisions rather than dumb luck. If there is an element of chance involved, it should have some justification within the established conventions of the fantasy setting. Mainly, I feel that there needs to be a...

The reason for this is that most other things you'd try to do with a skill aren't the sort of thing you could plausibly retry over and over again. The take-20 rule is simply a shorthand for what you could do roll-by-roll in such cases (and which players absolutely would do if taking 20 wasn't a...

Actually, nothing in the RAW states that searching something requires physical contact. In fact, it seems implied that it is (or at the very least can be) purely visual. Of course, this detail is very easily houseruled, because by RAW there really isn't much to explain what is and isn't...

Technically speaking, even if there were such an implication it wouldn't matter anyway. By RAW, a nat-1 on a skill check is not a critical failure, nor even a guaranteed failure. However, this is a very common houserule.

But the thing is, there is a cost: time. Especially if it's traps in particular that you're concerned about, I would assume you haven't cleared the dungeon of monsters/enemies yet. Taking the time to thoroughly search every potentially trapped square is simply not practical in those...

Frankly, I beg to differ. If something exists, it stands to reason that it can be found if you look hard enough and know what clues to look for. The Search skill entails having an understanding of what to look for (there's a reason the key ability is Int), and beyond that it's a matter of...

It's the most potent contact poison in the SRD. Special Abilities :: d20srd.org Ctrl+f for "black lotus" or just scroll down to the poisons table about 2/3 down the page. He's not particularly greasier than any other person, but his skin oils will kill you.

If you're looking to increase player involvement, I'd say set a limit on how much you can take 20 on at once. Rather than just saying "we search the room", make them narrow it down to "we search around the north wall" or "we search by that funny-looking statue". Taking assists into account also...

I'm not sure I see the problem with taking 20 on Search checks; if you're willing to spend two solid in-game minutes scouring every last nook and cranny of a 5-ft cube (assuming it's on a wall or corner) space, that seems like a reasonable enough tradeoff for a maximized search check. The...

Reminds me of this one from the 4chan threads: A pendant of stealth that gives +5 to hide checks, then flashes brightly and plays an uplifting "success" chime when the wearer successfully passes undetected.

Definitely gonna second this. The CR/EL system works ok as a rough guideline, but ultimately it's really only good as a jumping off point to get you in the ballpark of where the encounter should be. Having more PCs will naturally make encounters easier than CR would indicate, and highly...

Mysterious Idol - This strange statuette of unknown origin depicts a comely young maiden dancing in strange clothes. The statuette is made of a peculiar material, similar to wax in texture but as hard and rigid as wood, and is painted in vibrant colors. The workmanship is generally quite...

There are a few problems with this: First, your math is off; 600 lbs of water is roughly 75 gallons, which is roughly 10 cubic ft. (Helpful mnemonic rhyme: "a pint's a pound, the whole world 'round".) Second, there's the minor detail that Tenser's Floating Disk always follows the caster...

Bah, quit with the semantics. You're right, it is technically magma, not lava, but either way it's molten rock, and if you cool it down below a certain point (which is the same for either magma or lava, since the only difference between the two is whether it's still belowground or not), it'll...

I don't have too much experience behind the DM screen, but from my experiences both as a player and as a DM, I will say that tactics are HUGE. Arrange things so that the PCs have to fight on the enemy's terms, preferably giving the enemies a surprise round to throw debilitating debuffs at the...

It seems to me that the best strategy (barring Shivering Touch cheese) is to find a way to cool the lava around the dragon, trapping it (at least temporarily). Even if its head is free to attack, if you can at least trap the legs you'll limit its mobility and knock out a couple of its natural...

Not my creation, but I'm currently playing in a high-powered D&D campaign (3.5 gestalt + boatloads of free feats + ample gold allowance for status, connections, and fancy equipment) where one of the characters has a full-body tattoo that secretes black lotus extract, in addition to a few other...

Care to post this system? That's another possibility I've considered, but it seemed like a pretty daunting task to work out within the limits of keeping things halfway balanced.

One thing that's always bugged me about 3.x is that there are loads of fun and interesting magical items in the various books, but the way the game is designed a large chunk of your wealth-by-level is all but required to be sunk into boring numerical boosts in order to keep up with the expected...

Actually, Ralph only gets one AoO, even with Combat Reflexes; a single movement can only provoke one AoO. However, he could make that AoO at any of the three points you mentioned. I was thinking more in terms of the corner case of creatures with a 0-ft reach. They wouldn't get an AoO for the...