DM : "Your fighter does too much damage. Drop the belt of strength."

[MarkB]

Dragonspawn template can be added to any corporeal giant, humanoid or monstrous humanoid of Small, Medium or Large size (hereafter known as the “base creature”). Creature type changes to dragon, with the augmented subtype and the same subtype as the dragon type (fire, cold, etc) of its creator. Size remains unchanged.
Armor Class:+7 natural armor
Attacks: Gains Bite and Claw natural weapons that do (1d4 + Str for medium creature) damage. However, If he mixes the bite attack in with the double scimitar attacks I believe the bite attack takes a -5 penalty as if it was a secondary natural attack so the attack bonus on the character sheet should be +18 not +23. I only suggest this because he didn't list the Claw attacks at all so it looks like he is mixing in the Bite attack with the double scimitar attacks.
Breath Weapon (Su): is usable every 2d4 rounds
Spellcasting (Su): Gain ability to cast as 1st level sorcerers (if sorcerer already add +1 caster level)
Special Qualities: All of the base creature plus
Low Light Vision
Darkvision 30'
Immunity to Sleep effects
Immunity to Paralysis effects
Immunity to Fire damage
Abilities: STR+8, DEX+2, CON+6, INT+2, WIS+2, CHA+4 (Red)
Feats: as base creature + access to draconic feats
Alignment: Same as dragon creator (I don't know what campaign world this is in but normally this would require a CE alignment)
Level Adjustment: +4 (Red)

Ye gods, that's a template and a half! The strength alone is giving him an effective Attack Bonus increase equivalent to four Fighter levels, albeit without the iterative attack progression. Add the rest of the ability modifiers and I'd say this borders on deserving more than a +4 LA even before considering the other special abilities.

 

[The_Gneech]

Frankly, if a fighter is dealing "too much" damage, then GOOD. ALL they do is fight. They contribute jack when solving social problems, have no real useful skills, etc. If he's outdamaging the spellcasters, it looks like things are balanced, as spellcasters have great utility outside of just dropping monsters to -10. The fighter is considered a weak class to begin with... I find it humerous how pissy grognards get when someone manages to make one up to par with a caster. I'm sick and tired of the notion that its ok to slide the non casters out of utility past 10th level... its a holdover from a crappy era of D&D. Unless you're running just a pure hack and slash campaign, then the character really isnt going to be incredibly useful outside of killing things.

Well, this character isn't just fighting; he's also got Hide +29, Listen +17, Move Silently +29, Search +17, Spot +17, flight, fire breath (4d10 with a Ref save of 20 every 2d4 rounds!), has Fort/Reflex/Will saves of +19/+16/+14 respectively, AC 37, 151 hp, +9 initiative, and is basically the ultimate stealth tank.

-The Gneech

 

[Yellow Sign]

I think the biggest problem with the character is the ability scores. He has 11 HD, so he's gained +2 to ability scores from level. All his ability scores are even, so I assume that he used point buy to generate the character. Assuming the previously posted stats for the red dragonspawn template are correct, then he started with Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 12. That's insane. If the DM is actually allowing 52 point buy, then he should expect every single character in his campaign to be an unstoppable killing machine.

The DM is being rather silly if he's complaining about ~30 damage per hit at that point. It's rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

I think that he said that he rolled the stats in front of the GM. Still pretty sweet stats.

 

[werk]

I don't want to rag on the poster, enough people have done that

However, I have done simular things in my games to balance the party and the DM most likely has the best interest of the party in mind so I would say roll with it.

Aye, I probably wouldn't have allowed the build. If I didn't know what I wasa getting into with a player, and was confronted with this and a player adamant about not losing the integrity of their character, I would probably shrug it off and put a 5 point damage reduction on that character.

Net result of losing 10 points of strength, no one knows but me...no muss, no fuss.

 

[DM-Rocco]

Dragonspawn template can be added to any corporeal giant, humanoid or monstrous humanoid of Small, Medium or Large size (hereafter known as the “base creature”). Creature type changes to dragon, with the augmented subtype and the same subtype as the dragon type (fire, cold, etc) of its creator. Size remains unchanged.
Armor Class:+7 natural armor
Attacks: Gains Bite and Claw natural weapons that do (1d4 + Str for medium creature) damage. However, If he mixes the bite attack in with the double scimitar attacks I believe the bite attack takes a -5 penalty as if it was a secondary natural attack so the attack bonus on the character sheet should be +18 not +23. I only suggest this because he didn't list the Claw attacks at all so it looks like he is mixing in the Bite attack with the double scimitar attacks.
Breath Weapon (Su): is usable every 2d4 rounds
Spellcasting (Su): Gain ability to cast as 1st level sorcerers (if sorcerer already add +1 caster level)
Special Qualities: All of the base creature plus
Low Light Vision
Darkvision 30'
Immunity to Sleep effects
Immunity to Paralysis effects
Immunity to Fire damage
Abilities: STR+8, DEX+2, CON+6, INT+2, WIS+2, CHA+4 (Red)
Feats: as base creature + access to draconic feats
Alignment: Same as dragon creator (I don't know what campaign world this is in but normally this would require a CE alignment)
Level Adjustment: +4 (Red)

Yeah, okay, no way in hell would I allow this, specially with the half-dragon template to boot. Nuts I say. After a bad DMing experience with three half-ogres and one halfling I decided to say no to such absurdaties that give high STR (and in this case other useful abilities) bonuses for such a low (in my opinion) level adjustment. Really dude, you should just be happy the DM allowed the race over the belt.

 

[3d6]

I think that he said that he rolled the stats in front of the GM. Still pretty sweet stats.

Well, then the problem with Question's character, first and foremost, is that the DM is having players roll for stats and expecting to run a balanced game. You could have a reasonable expectation of that in previous editions of D&D, where a 14 was generally no better than a 7 for an ability score. In 3rd edition, ability scores always matter, so rolling is going to produce unbalanced characters.

 

[sckeener]

Eh? I think a 18 strength, which would be the maximum for a human, would cost... 14 of the 24 points. (Normally 16 points.)

oops...forgot about that half-orc, but you answered the question.

He gave you 36 points, but forced you to put 2 points in every stat. Saying 24 points makes it sound like you are in a low powered game when you are really in a very high power game.

 

[JoeGKushner]

oops...forgot about that half-orc, but you answered the question.

He gave you 36 points, but forced you to put 2 points in every stat. Saying 24 points makes it sound like you are in a low powered game when you are really in a very high power game.

No, it is a high powered game. Taken from Iron Heroes.

We don't think that the 32 point is very 'high fantasy' and liked the Iron Heroes way of making sure players didnt' start with any stat penalties off the bat as most will go for the charisma dump quicker than a three legged pig in a two legged pig race.

 

[Nebulous]

I think that he said that he rolled the stats in front of the GM. Still pretty sweet stats.

Is there any mention of HOW they were rolled? 6d6 per ability and take the best three?

 

[Oryan77]

If the game hasn't started yet, then it's kinda pointless to argue over what magic items you should start with (no matter how common you think the item should be in his world). You are basically demanding that your PC has been so lucky in life that he managed to aquire all of the magical gear that would be perfect for a fighter of his type. It's like he never found a single magic item that was useless to him as a fighter...and if he did, he was luckily able to sell/trade it to obtain the next "perfect" item that is on his checklist of items that make him a fighting machine. I find this hard to believe, which is why I don't let players choose their own magic items. Doing so is game breaking.

When players start from 1st level; by the time they are 16th level they aren't necessarily built perfectly. Their "character wealth" will be a mix of "junky" items that they found that doesn't do them much good. When players start at 16th lvl, their PC's are going to be perfectly built.

When players make new PC's in my game, I have them write out a wish list of magic items they'd like to have. They are free to go over the starting wealth value. I ask them how much gold they actually want to spend on magic items and then I pick & choose what items they can have from their wish list. They are free to use their leftover gold to buy any scrolls, potions, and non magic gear they want.

Look at it that way. Give the DM a break. If I was in your shoes I'd be thankful that he's letting me keep the uber sword & taking the belt rather than the other way around. If the belt is so common in his world like you think it should be...then make a side quest to go buy a belt or get one made (it's a lot easier than convincing a DM to do that side quest for the sword).