DMs: Share your strategies/tricks for making 3.5 more manageable

[EroGaki]

Please. If a player asked me about an NPC's "encumbrance bracket" I would smack them upside the head for their pathetic, blatant metagaming. Then I would say, "Apparently the NPC is still able to carry his gear. Because, he's, like, carrying it!"

One thing that I don't like about 3.x is how it seemed to inadvertently encourage this kind of brutal rules lawyering, where players actually question a monster's encumbrance limits. Grrr.

I think it's a valid question. If I zapped a fighter decked out in full plate and great sword for 12 strength damage, I would inquire about his encumbrance as well. After all, most DM's I know would ask the same question to any player that lost a lot of strength. Turn about is fair play.

 

[roguerouge]

Please. Make a quick judgment call at the table and move on. You don't need to tally up every last pound for every BBEG, let alone his plate armor mook.

Another time saver? Don't use a battle board. The game flies by if you just require the players to visualize and imagine.

 

[rgard]

With respect to having fully statted out NPCs:

1. I never throw out any NPC or PC character sheets.

2. Use the example characters from the splat books as NPCs.

3. Use posted PC and NPC stats from this forum and others as NPCs.

I just recycle the above with some changes. It definitely saves time.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[ExploderWizard]

I once tried to make a sorcerer who abhored damage spells and violence in general, he started at level 1 and his main "attack" spells were Daze and Ray of Enfeeblement. When the DM sicced some way too powerful warrior on me in full plate, I knew my 1d6 str penalty wouldn't keep him from killing me. But I sure as hell hoped it'd leave him encumbered so I could run away. Why is that rules lawyering?

It isn't. The most feared weapon in any game is the dreaded 5 pound weight gun.