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I have a campaign-specific house rule that ANY magical item with greater than a +4 total bonus (or equivalent) has a name and history behind it that can be learned, unless it's come from another plane, in which case the exotic nature of its origin is reflected in its abilities.

Upside: Availability of wands. Downside: 2-for-1 disarm when that weapon goes flying.

If a character with Mettle makes his save, he still takes the damage. There is no way to prevent the damage from an Orb spell, thus the save does not apply. A character with Mettle is no different than a regular character there.

It's up to the DM how difficult he makes things for his PCs. If they need max ranks in any certain skill to stand a chance, then he's encouraging powergaming by making it all about the numbers. A good DM will have a reason for a PC to have a fleshed-out background, including skills. You know...

I have always been a fan of spears, and will definitely be adopting the "spears are finesseable" idea for my campaign. Fun weapons used in games I've played: *half-fire elemental fighter/sorceror wielding a dire flail named "Accident". ("What happened to him?" "He met with an unfortunate...

You know, this is a perspective I didn't think about. Of course, it's a lot more applicable in campaigns where the PCs don't start off at low level, but if you're starting them off at 9th level - it might make a bit more sense. Player really really wants to play a Master Samurai, so they plan...

This just reminds me how massive of an effect the institution of banking and letters of credit can have on a campaign. Even assuming all regions in a campaign accept the same coinage, what an absolute pain it must be to cart around these amounts of gold once you get to high levels. Now the...

By definition, prestige classes are often supposed to be in-world constructs in some cases. For example, you can't be a Red Wizard of Thay (strictly as written) in an Eberron campaign. How did you get to Thay? A lot of concern is also "When do you gain a level?" - In older systems, XP could be...

Powergaming, when it exists, is always 100% the DM's fault. If the DM doesn't have control over what's allowed in his campaign, then he's not doing a good job. This also follows for DMs who let players fudge their dice rolls, alter stats on their sheets, etc. "Roleplaying" implies that the...

No, but move 60 feet + bull rush + attack does seem incorrect. IMC, Bull Rush falls into the category of Special Attack Actions like Sunder, Trip, Disarm, and Overrun. Thus, anything that allows a "melee attack" can allow one of those actions. Charge is basically "Move+melee attack in one...

But a Charge is a full-round action. You don't get to do anything else but the Charge. So your two or three options would be: Charge w/attack (run up and hit Johnny Minotaur with a sword) Charge w/bull rush (run up and push Johnny Minotaur back 5') Charge w/bull rush AND attack (run up, push...

Definitely no. Charge is a full-round action that includes an attack. If you combine Bull Rush, the Bull Rush counts as your attack, since like an attack it is a standard action. The real fun comes with things like Charge + Improved Sunder/Disarm/Trip.

Simple - get your DM to rule "throwing daggers" as mechanically identical to shuriken. Can't be used as a melee weapon, only as a thrown weapon. Just change the name of the weapon, and you're golden.

QFT. I've been trying to find a group here for a while, and it seems like the place is dead.

I like Eberron's idea, with the plane of Dolurrh being the repository for dead souls. As long as a soul remains there, it can be accessed by spells such as speak with dead, true resurrection, etc. After it's faded and gone to "wherever they go", then that soul is out of reach of those spells, as...

Someone's been watching He-Man on DVD...

Another thought - the three saving throws represent innate qualities of your character, things that cannot be "trained". It's literally a part of their makeup that they don't choose, it just is. A sort of natural ability, independent of any learning curve. As folks who have been through...

As I see it, if the setting as published in the gamebooks is engaging enough - I don't need to read a novel to enjoy it. In some cases, bad novels have pushed me away from a setting that I may otherwise have enjoyed. YMMV, but I hated the Dragonlance books. So much so that I couldn't get into...

Someone said it earlier: skills are active, saves are passive. Each class advances differently because of the nature of the class. Rogues train more on dodging traps and fireballs and stuff, while fighters train to be tough to withstand poisons, being gut-punched, etc. Natural abilities help...

Heavy crossbow with adamantite bolts. "Door? What door?"