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1) I think the problem that's stemming from this argument is the way you perceive warrior-mages are played. As I said in the previous post, we're thinking of method #1 which is buffing then attacking rather than flinging spells with a superior base attack. From an optimization standpoint, while...

An Enlightened Fist is admittedly not exactly a no-brainer like the Abjurant Champion but it can be optimized. Feats like Power Attack and Arcane Strike combined with spells like Polymorph (and the variant Draconic Polymorph) and Wraithstrike can give it a big boost, perhaps not as huge as an...

In the strictest sense, yes, that's true. But warrior-mages aren't played like mages (and neither are they played as straight-out warriors unless they're fighting some feeble opponent). The usual "optimal" way of playing them is usually buffing and then attacking.

Not necessarily. There are arguably two ways to play an Eldritch Knight: 1) Goes toe to toe with other opponents and uses his buffs to give him an edge (the feat Arcane Strike also gets frequently used here along with the spell Wraithstrike). Arguably he can deal more damage than your regular...

I'll throw in one other warrior-mage prestige class which a lot of people overlook: Dragonslayer from Draconimicon: 1/2 spellcasting progression, fighter BAB, d10 hit points. Of course it's a bit thematic (slaying dragons) and hard to qualify (in the sense that you need at least Dex 13 to...

If you don't want to change the rules, you might want to read my blog entry for tips on increasing everyone's healing capacity. It's a bit splatbook heavy though: http://charlesatan.vox.com/library/post/dd-increasing-the-partys-healing-efficiency.html

The argument goes both ways. Ultimately, it depends on the setting of the GM. I mean in Forgotten Realms and in Greyhawk, it can easily be conceived that shopping for magic items is readily available. In other settings, not so much. It was a relevant question because for some people, shopping...

It was partially remedied in Weapons of Legacy (and one of the prestige classes in Unearthed Arcana) since hindsight is indeed 20/20 (and IMO I think 3.5 is really only 3.5 as of late thanks to new concepts like swift/immediate actions, substitution levels, etc.) although I expect it'll be...

They done that already in their respective books. Weapons of Legacy for example has mechanics on how to "build" your own Legacy Weapons. Even the DMG has formulas for creating magic items. The rest are simply that -- examples.

Ectoplasmic Armor, Spell Compedium, 1st-level Sor/Wiz, Abjuration

Slightly better since it (apparently "only") applies when you're wearing light armor.

There's also luck bonuses and sacred/profane bonuses. There's also a spell that gives you an armor bonus that applies to incorporeal touch attacks.

Races of the Dragon has some alternate class features which makes Kobolds a bit more viable (i.e. Fighter substitution levels giving it a bonus to Str). Still sub-optimal but by no means unplayable. Also a boost if you're going to play a kobold sorcerer (it gains the dragonblood subtype).

I usually stick to either the half hp +1 method or RPGA Eberron (basically half hp+1 except for d4 and d12's which get 2 and 8 respectively). But then again, I hate "randomness" (i.e. random stats, random hp). If you want to enforce the randomness of D&D, you should take in the good along with...

Not necessarily. They can just publish splatbooks with feats instead of classes/prestige classes. The biggest hurdle is complexity. Making everyone "generic" and throwing all the "features" into feats makes going through all the feats and its combinations a big chore. The existing features/feat...

Well if the Cleric is the lone party healer, the Crusader ain't that (although he can help with the occasional healing). As for the random mechanic maneuver, it's really not that much of a disadvantage as long as you pick the right maneuvers to begin with -- you'll have something useful...

Have you read about Chinese vampires? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Shi

Personally I think it came into prominence when 3.5 came about and Dragon/Dungeon had released their Incursion arc which had the Githyanki invading the material plane. It was in Dungeon that I first saw the term Gish and when I saw it at the boards, understood what it meant.

Player's Guide to Faerun has it as a Regional Feat but you can only take it at 1st level and has a specific monster to which it applies to depending on what region you hail from. Other d20 systems might have it as a feat.

The problem is that a lot of things in the game, under certain specific conditions, can be abused. These items/spells/classes/whatever work okay in isolation or even make great combinations with others. It only becomes broken under a specific set of circumstances. As Michael Silverbane...