[3.5] Enormous number of changes - some make me wonder why...

[James McMurray]

But fair point on the need for balance. I'll review the costs when I get my hands on the 3.5e books. It just seems odd to me as a DM to place a dretch guard in the hideout of an evil cleric if it needs to be paid 2000gp per day. It kind of lowers the scope for using low-level demons and devils against an inexperienced party.

If you're an evil cleric, you barter with the Dretch's master instead of summoning it and requesting its aid.

 

[Celtavian]

"Not going to be using any fixed range changes. I don't like fixed ranges. Range should be determined by caster power."

Well...that's the problem, isn't it? Because cone and line, the way they were in 3.0, were the only spells whose area changed based on the character's caster power. A more powerful wizard doesn't get a larger fireball, why should he get a larger cone of cold? Why should a feat that makes you able to charm someone from farther away suddenly increase the area of your lightning bolt - especially when there's another feat that's supposed to do that?

It may not be a popular change, but I think it makes a lot more sense than the old way. [/B]

Well, there is a trade off to everything. I thought the trade off with the Cone of Cold and Lightning Bolt was range. They are both have a great deal shorter Range than Fireball and also have the disadvantage of starting exactly at the point where the caster is standing, thus making it difficult to cast into battle when the other PC's are engaged.

Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Cone of Cold are balanced overall. Fireball being the most effective overall due to its ability to be cast at the rear of enemies even if you are not on the rear side. Both Lightning Bolt and Cone of Cold require an unobstructed path, but can possibly affect more targets. I think that makes them balanced.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Cone of Cold are balanced overall. Fireball being the most effective overall due to its ability to be cast at the rear of enemies even if you are not on the rear side. Both Lightning Bolt and Cone of Cold require an unobstructed path, but can possibly affect more targets. I think that makes them balanced.

I agree with this principle. Also, considering that Cone of Cold was a 5th level spell, the increasing area was a balance against empowered versions of fireball (since a 10th level caster could prepare a 15d6 empowered fireball or a 10d6 cone of cold...)

I might end up sticking with the fixed range for cones but still allow Extend to double that range.

 

[frankthedm]

You can likely thank the Call of Cthulhu 'epic level charaters Vs. Cthulhu' playtest for BOTH


Time stop preventing you from leaving behind instantanous spells [ just like it was in 2e ] I think it was Andy or Monte that got ticked bout this spell]

Temporal stasis giving a fort save [ this or imprisonment is how they got Cthulhu ]

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

Each of the first 5 levels he gets a "terrain mastery", for each of the next 5 levels he can get either a terrain or a "planar mastery"

I'm a bit concerned about void plane mastery... Dimension Door every three or four rounds and a character can reach that at 12th level. I guess I'll have to see it in play to be sure though.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

I've noticed one candidate for errata already - the "regenerate" ability in the MM states that it doesn't help against attacks which don't do hp damage, e.g. disintegrate. Thing is, the big D does do hp damage now (2d6 per caster level, max of 40d6) so it looks like an edit was missed.

Are you sure? I thought they'd made it like the deathtouch domain ability, i.e. roll 2d6 per caster level, and if you match the target's hit points, it's disintegrated outright (not the same thing as actually taking all that damage).

 

[Plane Sailing]

Are you sure? I thought they'd made it like the deathtouch domain ability, i.e. roll 2d6 per caster level, and if you match the target's hit points, it's disintegrated outright (not the same thing as actually taking all that damage).

I'll check again tonight, but I'm sure that it does the damage and IF you bring it to 0hp it disappears.

I'll check the details tonight and post here again though.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Another potential kink in the DMG special power descriptions - under Invisibility it says that an invisible target is not subject to precision attack damage like ranger favoured enemy and rogue sneak attack.

however, the ranger favoured enemy is no longer precision attack damage... looks like the invisibility entry didn't get fixed when the change happened.

 

[Plane Sailing]

BTW, despite the title of the thread something I really must cheer about - the DMG is far, far better than it used to be. The section about wilderness environments and terrains (including special features likely therin) is one of the best sets of additional rules that I've seen. I really, really like this, and it is the ideal thing to have in the DMG.

The Urban encounters are excellent too.

So far this has been my favourite of the three books. The extra info in the MM stat blocks will come in very useful, but this book is getting my creative juices flowing.

 

[Plane Sailing]

One change that I've noticed in the MM which is disappointing, but I can see why they've done it...

All of the creatuers in the 3e version whose pictures blatantly ignored the descriptive text... have had the descriptive text chaneged to reflect the pictures. A quick sample of the Allip, Spider Eater and Morhg demonstrates that quite nicely - I've not checked the stirge yet but I'm sure that our eight-legged friend is going to be condemned to a future with four legs and four (?) wings.

Cheers