Little Known Rules of D&D

[pawsplay]

If a template gives +2 con, but doesn't say that it gives a commensurate increase in hit points, does that mean you wouldn't give the critter the extra HP?

Same deal with increase in intelligence.

It's not the same deal. Look at the Int chart; is there anywhere on there it says, "Speaks Common?" In my view, it's more akin to the animal --> familiar transformation.

 

[Sithobi1]

Familiars also understand common...

 

[Elephant]

I'm not sure where to find the reference, but someone told this yesterday:

If a wizard attempts to copy a spell out of another wizard's spellbook and fails, there is a chance that the spell is burned out of the spellbook.

I know it's not in the PHB in the section dealing with adding new spells to a wizard's spellbook - I looked in that section. My friend couldn't remember where the burnout clause was, but he insisted that the text he had seen was perfectly clear. He guessed that it was in the DMG somewhere.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? While this friend runs a heavily house-ruled game, he usually knows what he's talking about when he cites D&D rules.

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's not the same deal. Look at the Int chart; is there anywhere on there it says, "Speaks Common?"

It's under the definition of Intelligence in the Monster Manual.

Intelligence: A creature can speak all the languages mentioned in its description, plus one additional language per point of Intelligence bonus. Any creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher understands at least one language (Common, unless noted otherwise).

-Hyp.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Does this ring a bell for anyone? While this friend runs a heavily house-ruled game, he usually knows what he's talking about when he cites D&D rules.

Maybe a previous edition. In 3.X, a spellbook is not magical and so there's no chance the spellbook will be ruined. Was he thinking of a scroll perhaps and got confused on the wording? The appropriate rules:

The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.

If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand or copy the spell. She cannot attempt to learn or copy that spell again until she gains another rank in Spellcraft. A spell that was being copied from a scroll does not vanish from the scroll.

 

[pawsplay]

It's under the definition of Intelligence in the Monster Manual.

Intelligence: A creature can speak all the languages mentioned in its description, plus one additional language per point of Intelligence bonus. Any creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher understands at least one language (Common, unless noted otherwise).

-Hyp.

We've already covered "unless noted otherwise," so I believe this debate is at an empasse.

 

[Hypersmurf]

We've already covered "unless noted otherwise," so I believe this debate is at an empasse.

"Unless noted otherwise" refers to whether or not the one language the creature understands is Common, or a language other than common. It doesn't refer to whether or not the language is understood at all... that would require the clause to be outside the parentheses.

-Hyp.

 

[shdwrnr]

A sai, that pointy thing Raphael from the ninja turtles uses, deals bludgeoning damage.

A wizard replaces one of its bonus languages with draconic instead of just adding it to his list. A halfling wizard with an Intelligence modifier of +5 couldn't learn elven (for example) if he wanted to learn draconic at 1st level.

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave slots open to be filled later on in the day by spending 15 minutes preparing her mind and then preparing spells as normal.

Spellcaster that prepare their spells (wizards, paladins, rangers, druids, clerics) can always use a higher level spell slot to prepare a lower level spell, even without the Heighten Spell metamagic feat. The spell acts as normal for its level though (i.e. a magic missile prepared in a third level slot without the Heighten Spell feat still counts as a 1st level spell). A spellcaster can do this even if he wouldn't normally be able to cast spells of that level because of a low ability score (i.e. a 10th level Paladin with a Wisdom score of 11 could prepare a 1st level spell in his 2nd level spell slot). Spontaneous casters (sorcerers and bards) do not get this luxury without the Heighten Spell feat.

A wizard can only prepare spells that she has writen down in her own spellbook, even when using someone else's spellbook. She couldn't, for example, use someone else's spellbook to prepare a fireball spell unless her own spellbook has the fireball spell recorded in it. Also, any time she uses someone else's spellbook to prepare a spell, she must make a DC 15 + spell's level Spellcraft check. Failure indicates she can't prepare the spell from that source until the next day.

That's all I can think of right now. Source for all of this is the Player's Handbook and the DMG.

 

[cmrscorpio]

A wizard replaces one of its bonus languages with draconic instead of just adding it to his list. A halfling wizard with an Intelligence modifier of +5 couldn't learn elven (for example) if he wanted to learn draconic at 1st level.

Your example is of a situation that cannot exist in the core RAW. In order for said halfling to have a +5 modifier, she would have to have a 20-21 Intelligence, which is impossible because no core race has a +2 modifier to Intelligence.

Not only that, there is a flaw in your logic. A halfling has 5 bonus languages, so there is no "couldn't learn" language in your scenarion.

 

[shdwrnr]

Your example is of a situation that cannot exist in the core RAW. In order for said halfling to have a +5 modifier, she would have to have a 20-21 Intelligence, which is impossible because no core race has a +2 modifier to Intelligence.

Not only that, there is a flaw in your logic. A halfling has 5 bonus languages, so there is no "couldn't learn" language in your scenarion.

I don't have any splat books handy. Point is, if you had a race with, say, 5 bonus languages and a racial +2 to Int, it's possible. Bad example, sorry ;-p