Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6271538" data-attributes="member: 6669384">Coming up with a &quot;neat build&quot; can be fun, and maybe even worth taking it out for a spin.&nbsp; Running every neat build in a an ongoing game, however, may be a bad idea.Whatever happens though, you want to avoid the &quot;arms race&quot; mentality, the situation where they keep stacking it on, just to remain unstoppable, and you keep applying more force to show that they can indeed be stopped.It turns the game from a friendly group story tell into a competition, with people striving to &quot;win&quot;, not just the battle, but the game.With regards to the specific mechanical issues:&nbsp; A high enough AC to provide a challenge for the combat monsters is freezing the more reasonable builds out?&nbsp; And you don't like it?&nbsp; Obviously, the last thing you want to do is reward the combat monsters by making encounters that only they can shine in.&nbsp; Consider tactics with miss chances from things like concealment, rather than pure AC.&nbsp; Since a 50/50 miss chance applies to everyone equally, it levels that particular part of the playing field.So what gives acceptable chances?&nbsp; &quot;Shadowy illumination&quot;, like being more than 20 feet from the torch, or like a D&amp;D 3.5 Darkness spell, gives a 20% miss chance.&nbsp; Displacement gives 50/50, as does being non corporeal.&nbsp; Blink is another spell or effect that works.&nbsp; Smoke or fog eliminates that nasty True Sight and/orghost touch ability.Combat tricks are also useful.&nbsp; That power game character with his +9 Scythe of Ultimate Niftyness?&nbsp; What happens when he faces an opponent with Improved Disarm, who's built to make the best of it?&nbsp; If your bad guy approached unarmed and does the take-away, the power hungry PC finds himself facing an opponent who now possesses a +9 Scythe of Ultimate Niftyness!Improved Sunder is also a nice way to pare over-equipped PCs down to size.Another, outside-the-box thought might be to *increase* the power level of the guys who get left out of the fight against high AC opponents.&nbsp; Level the playing field that way, then run high AC opponents that everyone can have fun beating on.I surprised and frustrated one of our party's fighters by letting him meet an Awakened Construct, an Iron Golem with Fighter levels.&nbsp; Oh, and &quot;she&quot; was wearing armor with a full helm, so he wasn't aware what he was facing.&nbsp; He thought it might be an Ogress with some levels and gear.&nbsp; She/it was level appropriate for the PC, but had so many immunities that a lot of the usual tricks to increase damage weren't working.&nbsp; No poison, stat or level drain, no Critical Hits.&nbsp; He was built like a Cuisinart, lots of attacks that add up, rather than a few big damage attacks.&nbsp; Her/its DR frustrated him, since he didn't know what he needed to penetrate.&nbsp; He suspected a Stone Skin effect, and presumed that the armor was Fortified to block sneak/crits.&nbsp; So a dose of the unexpected is always nice.&nbsp; If you use things like that, though, remember not to let them know who that is behind the iron mask.&nbsp; Not during the battle, and not afterwards, unless they defeat &quot;her&quot; and have a chance to unmask the foe.&nbsp; If your monster survives, either by winning or escaping, you can use them again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 6271538, member: 6669384"] Coming up with a "neat build" can be fun, and maybe even worth taking it out for a spin. Running every neat build in a an ongoing game, however, may be a bad idea. Whatever happens though, you want to avoid the "arms race" mentality, the situation where they keep stacking it on, just to remain unstoppable, and you keep applying more force to show that they can indeed be stopped. It turns the game from a friendly group story tell into a competition, with people striving to "win", not just the battle, but the game. With regards to the specific mechanical issues: A high enough AC to provide a challenge for the combat monsters is freezing the more reasonable builds out? And you don't like it? Obviously, the last thing you want to do is reward the combat monsters by making encounters that only they can shine in. Consider tactics with miss chances from things like concealment, rather than pure AC. Since a 50/50 miss chance applies to everyone equally, it levels that particular part of the playing field. So what gives acceptable chances? "Shadowy illumination", like being more than 20 feet from the torch, or like a D&D 3.5 [I]Darkness[/I] spell, gives a 20% miss chance. [I]Displacement[/I] gives 50/50, as does being non corporeal. [I]Blink[/I] is another spell or effect that works. Smoke or fog eliminates that nasty [I]True Sight[/I] and/orghost touch ability. Combat tricks are also useful. That power game character with his +9 Scythe of Ultimate Niftyness? What happens when he faces an opponent with Improved Disarm, who's built to make the best of it? If your bad guy approached unarmed and does the take-away, the power hungry PC finds himself facing an opponent who now possesses a +9 Scythe of Ultimate Niftyness! Improved Sunder is also a nice way to pare over-equipped PCs down to size. Another, outside-the-box thought might be to [I]*increase[/I]* the power level of the guys who get left out of the fight against high AC opponents. Level the playing field that way, then run high AC opponents that everyone can have fun beating on. I surprised and frustrated one of our party's fighters by letting him meet an Awakened Construct, an Iron Golem with Fighter levels. Oh, and "she" was wearing armor with a full helm, so he wasn't aware what he was facing. He thought it might be an Ogress with some levels and gear. She/it was level appropriate for the PC, but had so many immunities that a lot of the usual tricks to increase damage weren't working. No poison, stat or level drain, no Critical Hits. He was built like a Cuisinart, lots of attacks that add up, rather than a few big damage attacks. Her/its DR frustrated him, since he didn't know what he needed to penetrate. He suspected a [I]Stone Skin[/I] effect, and presumed that the armor was Fortified to block sneak/crits. So a dose of the unexpected is always nice. If you use things like that, though, remember not to let them know who that is behind the iron mask. Not during the battle, and not afterwards, unless they defeat "her" and have a chance to unmask the foe. If your monster survives, either by winning or escaping, you can use them again. [/QUOTE]

Verification