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    Do you like stat-bonus magic items?

    I like them, though I agree that they're boring and take up a lot of a character's treasure allowance that could be going towards cooler items. That's not really a bad thing. Like somebody said, you never get excited about your BAB or your saves going up when you level either. That doesn't...
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    Can a Wizard learn a spell for a level they can't cast yet?

    As the other posters have mentioned, this is legal in the base rules. Furthermore, wizard characters I have played have done this. It's useful if you're playing in a campaign where you don't normally have access to a lot of other spellbooks. When you gain access to one, you copy not only the...
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    Dracolich

    The dracolich is in the Draconomicon and somewhere else, maybe Monsters of Faerun. And from what I can tell, not really. Any evil dragon can become a dracolich, but dragonblood only qualifies you to use magic items or feats designed for dragons. Since it explicitly doesn't give you the...
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    Cutting Back the Power Level

    I've also had players who cringe at basically any stat generation, short of "roll 4d6 until you're happy with your stats". I don't have a huge problem with that, but it does seem to lead to issues with the game balance. The main issues I have with high stat characters are: 1) High stats take...
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    Description in "boxed text"

    I voted "A", as I tend to agree with Delta. I think the general effect is that once you mention enemies, 4 out of 5 of your players are going to start rolling dice and shuffling character sheets, leaving one player leaning in towards you and asking you to repeat the room description. I think...
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    Bracers Of armor and Nat armor

    My only problem with bracers of natural armor for the same price as the bracers of armor is that it leads to an AC increase for "tank" type characters over characters for whom this type of custom equipment is unavailable. Normal tank types ignore both the bracers of armor and the amulet of...
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    How do you get +34 in diplomacy as a level 9 PC?

    Sure, at the DM's discretion. You could also use the charm person spell to get the same effect, albeit with a saving throw.
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    How do you get +34 in diplomacy as a level 9 PC?

    With all sources available, you can hit +34 on a single check without even any items. Using the divine insight spell would give you +14. From there, you'd have 12 ranks (+26), +6 from synergies (+32) and only need a 14 charisma to hit +34. Without divine insight, you could substitute a...
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    Bracers of Armor obsolete?

    That is a good point. So the really the main reasons for bracers of armor would be: 1) Incorporeal touch attacks (my str 6 wizard is deathly afraid of shadows) 2) You might want to wear a robe 3) Twilight armor isn't available, and your wizard has Craft Wonderous Item Not very good reasons...
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    Do you fudge?

    I almost never fudge die rolls, but I will fudge monster tactics to try to prevent player deaths at lower levels. Just stuff like spreading my attacks around, when it's clear that if the monsters focused on one target that they could take it down. I generally don't bother with these sorts of...
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    Beholder's Eye Beams

    It seems to me that it's basically a given that the Beholder will be using the three most effective rays possible for a single target. Pre-assigning the eyes, to me, ignores the sentence "The beholder can tilt and pan its body each round to change which rays it can bring to bear in any given arc."
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    Gestalt pc's

    As I mentioned in the Improve Your Saves thread, is the character wearing two amulets? Periapts of Wisdom and Amulets of Health both occupy the amulet item slot.
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    Ways of increasing saves - Will,Frt,Rflx

    Just to point it out, amulets and periapts are both... well they're both amulets, effectively. One's just named a periapt to make you learn a new word. A new word that's been frustrating combat clerics since 3rd edition. Anyhow, if you're increasing saves, don't forget spells that increase...
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    Monsters with Assassin PRC

    Nazatharune Rakshasas from the Monster Manual III are specifically called out as automatically qualifying for the assassin class.
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    Frenzied berserker fair or not???

    Well swarms (especially some of the higher CR ones from the MM3) can do a lot of total damage, just not usually to one target. It's true though that that puts the players at a much greater risk of death. It's difficult justify realistically how someone at -410 can keep on fighting. I can see...
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    D&D 3.x D&D 3.5: Fake Choices Abound?

    That's a difficult topic. As I see it, it's vary hard to get the right balance. I think I read in an interview somewhere that that the designers of the PHB II saw that exact problem with a lot of the books, and that's why they designed the PHB II to be high on the power curve. They wanted the...
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    Frenzied berserker fair or not???

    The delay death spell from the Spell Compendium gives any PC the power to not die from damage. If you're playing using this spell, then I don't think the Frenzied Berzerker is particularly unbalanced. If there's a berzerker in the party, it requires the party to spend resources or have a...
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    Is the Dervish overpowered?

    If the character's been any class that makes tumble a class skill, then the max ranks remain at 3+level, even if the character later takes levels in a class that doesn't tumble. That means that with fighter levels the character will have to spend 2 skill points/level to keep the skill at...
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    (PHBII Optional Abilities) Dark Companion & Distracting Attack - Too Good?

    You might know the silence or invisibility spells are illusions, but they affect you nonetheless. I personally don't think either of the abilities are particularly overpowered. They're powerful, sure, but I think they need to be for anybody to actually consider them. Familiars are fun, and...
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    D&D 3.x known-abusable 3.5 combos/techniques/etc.

    As explored, IIRC, on the Wizards site, in a column about a troll: Regeneration + immunity to subdual damage + immunity to the damage type that bypasses regeneration = general immunity to damage.
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