Comments and questions on 3.5 from a Newbie

[Edena_of_Neith]

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[kenobi65]

I don't think size has much to do with your thread slowing down. You haven't posted many questions in the past day or so, and your current question is going back to 3E (my 3E core books are packed away somewhere; haven't used them in over a year).

 

[Silveras]

Player's Handbook: Polymorph allows you to assume various forms. It allows the Extraordinary attack forms of the creature, but not any other Extraordinary Abilities. It allows no Supernatural Abilities.

I see that the Druid Wildshape is now equivalent to the Polymorph spell.

What were the Druid Wildshape rules in 3.0? I don't have 3.0, and wish to compare.

The short answer is: 3.0 Wildshape was also linked to the polymorph spell.

In 3.0, the spells were still polymorph other and polymorph self. The rules for polymorph self referenced the rules for polymorph other, which were about 2 full columns in the PH. In 3.0, polymorph other was quite generous. The target gained the physical stats and abilities of the new form, but retained its own Type, classes, levels, hit points, spell-casting, and spell-spell-like abilities. It was, in some ways, a great long-lasting "buff" spell to use on your allies (Permanent spell, y'see). Polymorph self was basically polymorph other, but you can keep changing to new shapes during the 1 hour/level duration.

Polymorph self was revised at least once from the version in the Players handbook (a new "official revised" version appeared in Tome & Blood, for example).

In 3.5, both spells were re-written. Polymorph other became the 5th level baleful polymorph, and went back to being a "turn him into a frog" spell.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Welcome back, all!
Hmmm ... what to do, then? I guess, a House Rule? The Druid Wildshape allows the druid to gain the physical stats, and all of the Natural, Extraordinary, and Supernatural abilities of the form assumed. The druid, in turn, retains her Type, classes, levels, hit points, Extraordinary abilities, Supernatural abilities, Spell-like abilities, and all her spell abilities.
That would keep it otherwise similar to 3.0 Wildshape, no?

(dark humor)

I finally read about Taint, in Unearthed Arcana.
Based on that, I can give an alternate version of what happened in the film Fellowship of the Ring, at the Council of Elrond:

(Frodo places the ring on the table. Everyone immediately picks up 3 points of Taint. And it goes from there ...)

Gandalf: Frodo, you take it to Mordor.
Aragorn: Gandalf, you take it.
Gimli: Legolas, you take it.
Legolas: Gimli, you take it.
(Merry, Pippin and Sam are not present ... now we know the REAL reason why.)
Boromir: The men of Minas Tirith cannot be tainted. Gimme that!

Elrond: GET THAT THING OUT OF MY HOUSE. NOW.

 

[Silveras]

Welcome back, all!
Hmmm ... what to do, then? I guess, a House Rule? The Druid Wildshape allows the druid to gain the physical stats, and all of the Natural, Extraordinary, and Supernatural abilities of the form assumed. The druid, in turn, retains her Type, classes, levels, hit points, Extraordinary abilities, Supernatural abilities, Spell-like abilities, and all her spell abilities.
That would keep it otherwise similar to 3.0 Wildshape, no?

Hmmm... I have seen some people say they prefer 3.0 Haste to 3.5's modified Haste. I do not think I have seen anyone clamoring for 3.0 polymorph back. If anything, I have seen people who think it needs *more* restrictions/clarification.

There is a feat, called Natural Spell, that allows a Druid to cast spells while in Wildshaped form. I think Druids are strong enough, by the book, in 3.5, without trying to give them more goodies. There are strong arguments that, in the right campaign, a Druid can often be a more effective >KABOOM< spellcaster than a Wizard or Sorcerer.

(dark humor)

I finally read about Taint, in Unearthed Arcana.
Based on that, I can give an alternate version of what happened in the film Fellowship of the Ring, at the Council of Elrond:

(Frodo places the ring on the table. Everyone immediately picks up 3 points of Taint. And it goes from there ...)

Gandalf: Frodo, you take it to Mordor.
Aragorn: Gandalf, you take it.
Gimli: Legolas, you take it.
Legolas: Gimli, you take it.
(Merry, Pippin and Sam are not present ... now we know the REAL reason why.)
Boromir: The men of Minas Tirith cannot be tainted. Gimme that!

Elrond: GET THAT THING OUT OF MY HOUSE. NOW.

That's about the size of it.

By the way, Heroes of Horror expands on the Taint rules. I think I like it.

 

[kenobi65]

I think Druids are strong enough, by the book, in 3.5, without trying to give them more goodies. There are strong arguments that, in the right campaign, a Druid can often be a more effective >KABOOM< spellcaster than a Wizard or Sorcerer.

I agree with that. In the 3.0 campaign I ran, in which many of the adventures took place outdoors, or in natural underground settings, the party's druid was generally considered to be the most effective PC in the party. I don't think anything changed from 3.0 to 3.5 to make me change that assessment.

In the right environment, the druidic "minefield" spells (Entangle, Spike Growth, Stone Spikes) can really make life miserable for opponents. Call Lightning is actually useful in combat now. They can be pretty tough.

 

[Staffan]

The short answer is: 3.0 Wildshape was also linked to the polymorph spell.

Wild shape was also rewritten in Masters of the Wild. The rules were also on the WOTC site. These are my favored rules for wild shape, with changes to take into account the changes in stuff like animal sizes, eligibility of dire animals for wild shaping, uses per day, and so on.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Ah, thanks for the link there.
It seems they've regranted the Druid her original Wildshape ability ala 2nd edition (with a pretty much straightforward conversion to 3rd edition.)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I've read through Magic of Incarnum.
I'm unclear on what to make of it: it really is new and different.

One obvious use, as the book noted, is for a conventional spellcaster to use Incarnum to increase his own power. That would work especially well with a gestalt character who took as his one class a class that combined both the powers of the wizard and the powers of one of the three incarnum classes.
It seems to me that the new races are very driven: the first race mentioned (I cannot remember the name at the moment) reminded me of the Romulans, and the last race mentioned reminded me of the Klingons (just searching for analogies.)

The idea that shreds of Incarnum are flying around, attracted to anyone thinking strong thoughts, has a lot of roleplaying implications.
They detail the Lost, but what about positive shards of soul energy? What kind of beings are created when positive soul energy strikes a being enveloped by positive thoughts?

The world is full of powerful emotions. If it has large amounts of soul energy flying around, the contact between the two could create thousands of new types of viable races, as the contacts alter the original creature into something new and different.
As an example, perhaps the drow are elves who, during the Crown Wars (which generated a ton of negative emotion if anything did) were struck by negative emotion shards, and thus altered into twisted and evil versions of their former selves: that is, Dark Elves.

Any place of concentrated emotions, such as a temple, is going to attract a lot of soul energy of positive and negative kind. I'd think the clergy would want to place protections around the building and within it, and channels to funnel the soul energy for their benefit.

 

[sniffles]

Hmmm... I have seen some people say they prefer 3.0 Haste to 3.5's modified Haste. I do not think I have seen anyone clamoring for 3.0 polymorph back. If anything, I have seen people who think it needs *more* restrictions/clarification.

There is a feat, called Natural Spell, that allows a Druid to cast spells while in Wildshaped form. I think Druids are strong enough, by the book, in 3.5, without trying to give them more goodies. There are strong arguments that, in the right campaign, a Druid can often be a more effective >KABOOM< spellcaster than a Wizard or Sorcerer.



That's about the size of it.

By the way, Heroes of Horror expands on the Taint rules. I think I like it.

Based on personal experience, I have to agree about druids. Currently one of the campaigns I'm involved in features a gnome druid who is an awesome <KABOOM> spellcaster as you so appropriately put it. He uses call lightning to very good effect. I'm running a druid/ranger myself; equipped with a longspear she is so impressive in combat that I hardly use her spells.