greyscale1
First Post
Mialee
Easy one to fix, just assume summoned creatures can't summon anything themselves. My group has been doing it that way for years.
For me, the biggest issue (as a mostly DM kind of guy) was the need for quick NPC generation rules. Taking half an hour or more to roll up a PC every once in a blue moon isn't an issue. Taking half an hour or more to roll up every NPC in the setting, OTOH, is a huge (and rediculous) time sink.
[Edit: I realize that you can handwave low-level, window-dressing, NPCs -- but if they ever become engaged in combat, that elevates them to the status of at least extras. Since there aren't any rules for extras or mooks in D&D, you're stuck using the full-blown PC creation rules (alebit with a different class list) if you want to play by the RAW. This is rediculous and frustrating.]
Save-or-die is a problem that designers, in their continued ignorance, have always left for DM's to solve. To a VERY limited extent save-or-die is okay. There ARE some things in a game world which should be able kill characters definitively, and without hesitation while still allowing PC's SOME chance of survival. The problem is that DM's need to be KEENLY aware of when and why they want to introduce such things into the game because it is then up to the DM to ensure that sufficient warnings and chances for avoidance or alternate solutions are given to the PC's.Yeah, it pretty much doesn't work. There are a lot of spells that qualify as "Save or Die" though they do not actually affect your hit points. Obvious ones like Flesh to Stone, or Hold Person. In some cases even Dominate, Confusion, or Hideous Laughter. These can be game enders for a PC or a BBEG. Otiluke's Resilient Sphere is a Boss Killer in every way, and I don't see it popping up on many "Save or Die" hit lists.Save or Dies. These were a sacred cow that needed to be killed. I'm trying to make a version where it instead leaves the person at -9 and bleeding, so if he has allies, they have a chance to save him, but keep finding technical problems in making it actually work as intended.