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Of course, Gygax did that, too, with the Cavalier... Which generally led, IME, to players feeling like their characters were crap if they didn't have at least one high ability score.

I don't accept your premise*, but even if I did, it doesn't change the fact that a barbarian 1/fighter X is just plain better in a fight than a fighter X+1, for any value of X. Similarly, a barbarian X/fighter Y is better than a barbarian X+Y, for low values of Y. The system encourages level...

"An eldritch machine did it" would be the Eberron version. Well, here's the setting's dirty little secret. Eberron cheats when it comes to NPC magic. The houses have access to stuff that the players don't, in the form of eldritch machines that require dragonmarks to use, or special dragonmark...

Speaking as someone who burned out DMing a 3.5 campaign from 1 to 20 for similar reasons, Pathfinder is not what you're looking for.

Were having, perhaps. This thread hadn't been posted in for almost 3 years before you dug it up. Take a 1e AD&D character (or 2e AD&D using backgrounds instead of NWPs) with a background in blacksmithing. How good is the character at it? The point isn't that craft/profession skills are useless...

Ah, I see. You're assuming epic level. Well, sure, but most weapon-users will (a) have more than a few 4W attacks at those levels, and (b) will have so many feats that the opportunity cost of taking one feat vs the other is basically nil. Where the choice matters most is in the heroic tier when...

That's 1 damage per W, which is going to equal or beat the effectiveness of other damage-boosting feats for most weapon-using classes. Not that anyone is going to take, say, superior weapon prof and not also take weapon focus (or whatever).

The fullblade is a special case, as it's the only superior weapon that gets two mechanical boosts over the military version (+die size, +high crit). Which is either a sign that the greatsword should do more damage, or that the greataxe shouldn't have high crit. All the other superior versions of...

When he mentioned "sub-contractor" mechanics, my understanding was that he was talking about different ways to model the same thing. Your CON is a measure of your toughness. Your saving throws/Fort defense are a completely different measure of your toughness, which are possibly influenced by...

Except that the opposite is generally true for martial classes in 3e, assuming that your definition of "better" is "better in a fight" vs something like "has slightly better rages" or "qualifies for weapon specialization a level sooner."

Eberron solves the problem by restricting access to high-level spells from NPCs. IIRC, the one cleric capable of casting Resurrection is the head of a faith that doesn't believe in resurrection - followers of the Silver Flame believe that after their souls pass from Dolurrh, they go to join with...

Assuming another form/identity. Either naturally, for a changeling or shifter; magically; or with a disguise. Crafting and/or giving gifts. Especially gifts that can bring ruin to the owner. Travelling around, as mentioned earlier.

It's a feature of newer monsters, not a change to how the normal grab rules work. It's the same problem as attack bonuses or Fort/Reflex/Will defenses not scaling as well as monster attacks & defenses do. Consider that a level 30 monster should have a Fort/Reflex of around 42. Your average level...

Seems like it was just yesterday (well, it was the end of the 3e days) that folks were posting here about abandoning 3e for older editions because they felt constrained by the seemingly-sacrosanct rules, for fear of upsetting the game balance. Funny how things come around. Congratulations on...

Both takes have their issues. I like the 3.5 take in that small characters have the same weapon selection as everyone else, which did solve some issues. Personally, I would chose that system, except that characters should be able to use weapons within one size of themselves without penalty, and...

Interesting discussion. Personally, I never really liked the idea that each race's age categories were relative to their lifespan, especially when it's going to take a century or more to reach adulthood. Whatever cultural, social, or mental norms are given as the reason for the slow maturation...

Was this email from the "another player" mentioned previously, or the DM? Your post is not clear to me on that account. You're not wrong, according the rules. The email, if real, is definitely very over the top. Since weapons mainly exist to be used in attacks, using a weapon from the rule book...

I voted the original box set. I might have gone with 4e if it was a complete reset, but they seem to have retained the history laid out in the Prism Pentad novels, which gets big thumb down from me (as does the Prism Pentad itself and any products that incorporate its events into the setting...

Probably my favorite episode yet. I got choked up at the end, even knowing beforehand what was going to happen. I would have liked some more lead-up to Ned choice, but that's a minor nitpick. And there was so much going on that I can't imagine there was time for it. The scenes with Shae...

That's true, but my point was that even which save to use was not in the PHB, the question could easily be answered without any guesswork. It destroys the body? Fort save. In 3e's case, it's a ranged touch attack to hit (as are all ray spells), and a Fortitude save to resist. It could have just...