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The big advantage of alignment is that, if you cast a spell to ward off evil spirits, the DM doesn't have to guess which ones it will work on and if the sword will only leave the stone for the pure of heart, there's a handy reference to know who that is.

Hear, hear. Let's ditch the silly weapons group and keep the bastard sword and dwarven waraxe.

Is it really widely acknowledged that the CR/EL system breaks down when dealing with very large numbers of enemies? I don't acknowledge that for numbers up to 20 or so. Designing encounters that involve multiple weaker enemies requires a bit of creativity, but if you do it well, the CR/EL system...

People keep saying that grapple is confusing, but the basics are really pretty simple. All of the complex things about grapple are complex because of moronic FAQ rulings (not an attack, not a strength check, therefore no modifiers apply except for the prone modifier for some unexplained reason)...

That part of the analogy actually works too. Without a gaming group and ruleset (analogous to the computer and OS), you are cut off from most gaming. Now, with a computer you can be behind by several OS revisions and still function just fine (I write on my computer running Windows 2000 PRO that...

Maybe. And maybe not. That's an adventure design issue that is as easily accomplished in 3.x as it is an any edition to date--and I don't anticipate 4th edition making it any easier (except maybe by making large tough monsters more complex and difficult to run (as per the dragon from the design...

If not a lucky hit, what should kill them? Does it have to be a BBEG? or a big thug (an ogre for instance)? Or does the BBEG or the thug have to get a lucky hit? Or should it be when the PC is already injured and the BBEG/thug gets a lucky hit? Or should that be a normal hit? Once you start...

Heartening Shield (psi hb/Magic Item Compendium)

The last item on your list seems a little unrealistic--Improved Invisibility on the tank is one of the most suicidal tactics in the game. I remember an LG module I was playing once where the illusionist who was just getting to try out his new 4th level spells and the party faced a stone giant...

For the record, both abilities are from the magic item compendium. Is it really? Other +1 abilities of note: bane, keen, flaming/frost/shocking, ghost touch, mighty smiting (MIC), Caustic surge (MIC), Brutal Surge (MIC), blessed (MIC), sacred (MIC). Of course, it shouldn't just be compared to...

Neat ideas. I'm tempted to steal some of them sometime, but I have a few mechanical questions: Why warhorses? Why not just heavy horses? (the monster manual kindly statted them out for situations like this). What do masterwork horseshoes do?

You won't be terrible as a single class fighter, but you will be a little behind the power curve if you aren't very careful with your feat selection so that they all work together at once. Of course, that's not necessarily a problem as long as you don't play up (LG slang for playing a character...

I know what I would like in a rules compendium: All of the prestige classes, feats, alternate skill uses, exotic weapons, racial substitution levels, etc from the various Complete Books compiled in one book, balance issues addressed, and printed. That way, I could stop carrying any of the...

Note that Lava does 2d6 damage for brief exposure. Immersion in lava does 20d6. Being staked down in the middle of a bonfire could reasonably do more than 2d6 even if it didn't approach the 20d6 mark. Also, in real life, a person stuck in a fire is at as much risk from suffocation as from heat...

1. Beware of support characters. With three PCs, it is likely that every PC will have to step up into the starring role frequently. If even one out of three PCs does not have a way that he can win the battle, then, when the chips are down and that PC needs to come through, the party will...

Energy substituted scorching ray+quickened scorching ray: Average damage=14+14+14 (42) x2 to a single target. In an optimal situation, that's 84 damage. Subject to spell resistance and energy resistance (six times). The base, no power attack whirling blade plus quickened whirling blade is about...

That depends a lot on what kind of a weapon you use it with and what else you do in combination with it. At high levels, the spell becomes very very good. For instance, a +4 (through greater magic weapon) holy wounding greatsword thrown by a level 16+fighter/mage with a 24 int will do a base of...

The ones my cleric regularly imbues are: Grave Strike x2 Remove Paralysis Before Divine Insight was banned in Living Greyhawk, he typically imbued his cohort with divine insight in the second level slot. Close Wounds also seems like a very good choice, as does Divine Protection. In the first...

How much time would it take to build bridges? Julius Ceasar and his legions managed to bridge the Rhine well enough to take several legions across into Germany in less than a week. (I believe it was a couple days if my memory of Conquest of Gaul is correct). And Ceasar did that without wall of...

Not being familiar with the SAGA system, it sounds like there are re-rolls that can only be used on particular skills--is that correct? If so, the usefulness seems like it would depend upon the skill in question, but that the re-roll might well be better for the skills that you would spend feats...