Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2781744" data-attributes="member: 2020">Hey, thanks for the comments and answers to questions you'all made above.  Thanks for feedback on my hypothesis.  I'll have to redo the grapple combat between Joe Fighter and Joe Orc to reflect the changes.  I noticed that none of you stated that holding onto a one-handed weapon and a heavy shield while grappling was illegal.  So, I guess you can grapple while holding pretty much anything (even a double weapon, for instance.)  No?  No AOO while grappling, against the character you are grappling?  Are you certain of this?  It would seem to me that AOO would be particularly likely, with opponents so locked together in face to face grappling like that.  A pinned person is not prone?  What exactly is he considered to be?  What can a pinned person do, besides attempt to break the pin?  You say that the Joe Fighter and Joe Orc aren't going to hit each other.  Yet, isn't an opposed grapple check simply a matter of who rolls highest?  (which in the case of Joe Fighter and Joe Orc, would mean a 50/50 chance both ways.)  -  I like the DM's Best Friend rule, the + 2 / - 2 rule.  That sets other things in perspective.  I looked the list of possible bonus types in chapter 2 of the DMG.  LOL.  You may not be able to stack like bonuses, but there sure are a lot of different kinds of bonuses, just within the core rules.  And then there are special bonuses in the optional books, too.  I was talking with a friend last night.  We discussed what a dragon might do to enhance it's armor class.    One of the things that came up were Bracers of Defense, which would stack with the dragon's Natural Armor bonus.  If the dragon had spells, and pre-cast them, it could create Deflection bonuses.  And any dragon worth it's salt could create situational bonuses.  (Turn out the lights, and those without Darkvision have a real problem.)  If the dragon can't create the items himself, it can get others to create items for him.  Since dragons seem to have an AC around 40 base, this could get to be nasty.  High level party:  We attack the dragon!  High level party:  (misses because the dragon is AC 60 or 70.)  Dragon:  (does not attack)  We will discuss the terms of your surrender now.  -  People keep telling me how nerfed magic is in 3.5.  My friend brought up the spell Shocking Grasp.  Back in the heyday of 2E (you know, the game with all those powerful spells? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  ) Shocking Grasp did what, 1d10 points of damage plus a small bonus?  NOW, a 5th level mage deals 5d6 with Shocking Grasp.  That's as much as a Fireball for her level!  And with a 1st level spell.  And it gets better.  In 2E, she had to touch the opponent through all armor (not very likely, in the case of an opponent with heavy armor and shield, or good natural armor.)  Now, all she need do is overcome dexterity and dodge modifiers.  And if the hapless target is wearing typical metal armor, she gets + 3 to the roll.  Can we say, Fighter Fried Chicken?  Or how about, Monstrous Fried Chicken.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  The poor fighter (or monster) can't even make a run for it.  That provokes an AOO.  And even if the foe isn't struck by the AOO, the mage will just chase him or it, then attack.  Because now, in 3.5, she can hold a charge (hold the Shocking Grasp until she hits with it.)</blockquote>

Verification