Material allowed ingame by a DM

[Greenfield]

Yeah, I noticed that and mentioned it to him.

Be happy he hasn't come across the idea of running a Ghost or similar spirit that can possess some poor sap's body and drive it around, then grab a new one when that one gets killed.

One could argue that, although such spirits lose all their powers in daylight, there is no daylight inside a human body.

It's a template right out of the MM I, so completely within our allowable sources.

Is that broken enough for you?

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I think he's in love with fast movement. The Petal has a fly speed of 60, a +7 Charisma, +9 Dex (base 11 for each), and a -7 Strength (10 base)

Okay, I don't have anything invested in this character, but I can't help nitpicking. The petal's adjusted abilities are: 3, 20, 15, 15, 10, 18. Even scores are assumed to have a base of 10, while odds are assumed to have a base of 11. Which makes the petal's racial mods: -8 Str, +8 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Int, and +8 Cha.

3e has no odd racial mods, because they make eyes bleed.

 

[Grogg of the North]

I had a player that wanted to come back as a ghost. But not just as a ghost, he wanted the level by level breakdown that is on the internet and he said he wasn't going to take all the levels. I said no. It was one of the first times I went straight to "No" instead of "Yes, but...". Part of me is still upset about that.

 

[Greenfield]

Well, he is again taking a racial package that is questionable, and one with a racial hit dice. That saps his skill base, badly. (One reason to take a Rogue level up front is for the skills).

If he wants to argue that he should start from scratch, level wise, I'll say that he should start from scratch in terms of skills and feats as well. Not that he'll regret losing ranks in Craft - Flower Arranging, but he'll have to spend his own feats (Everyman and level based ones) if he still wants Weapon Finesse and Improved Initiative.

We'll have to calculate what the racial mods are for the different skills. Size will become a factor in Hide and Spot.

I think it boils down to: Subtract 16 ranks (Int mod +2, times four for 1st level), then subtract ability and size modifiers, and what's left is racial.

I think the package is going to make people think Pixie though, and the character will be voted down.

Not sure what drives him to these odd arrangements, but he may need to settle down if he wants the character approved.

 

[Greenfield]

According to my player, the "Cohort" qualifier means that the ECL is too high, and should be lowered, since cohorts are essentially second class citizens.

He's also decided to run his Petal as a Rogue/Warlock. It brings up the odd question, regarding his build.

He wants to have a Pseudo-Dragon as a Familiar. That requires the Improved Familiar feat, which I believe requires tht the character already have the ability to summon a Familiar. Warlocks don't have Summon Familiar as a class ability. The "Obtain Familiar" feat is only open to Arcane spell casters, and while the Eldritch Blast and the invocations associated with the class are Arcane, they are spell-like abilities, not spells. The class description in Complete Arcane repeats that point several times.

So I think he'll change again.

 

[Grogg of the North]

According to the WotC glossary:

Some creatures' level adjustment entries include the word "(cohort)." Although these creatures may be problematic as PCs, they make good companions for a character who has taken the Leadership feat.

In other words, it's not meant to be a PC character.

I had a warlock in a previous game ask about obtain familiar. It's one of those gray areas in the rules and I said if she wanted it, she could take it. Point out to your player that a pseudodragon familiar requires you to be within one step of NG. So your warlock has to be CG.

I'm going to tell you right now that warlock/rogue is going to boil down to 1) Turn invisible, 2) Sneak Attack. Rinse, repeat, gather XP. I had a problem player that played a warlock/rogue that was always invisible, to the annoyance of the party, and the one time I put him in a situation where he couldn't sneak attack (Cave with magical darkness) he sat at the table and pouted.

 

[Greenfield]

Well, his build was originally premised on the idea of Rogue1/Sorcerer12 because he wanted the Rogue starting skills, and because he thought that a one level dip would put the Rogue class skills on his "In Class" list forever more.

He really wanted UMD, you see.

He may go Rogue2/Warlock 11, to gain the Evasion, but I showed him where, right in the book, it says the class skills are only in class when you're adding levels of that class.

So I'm not worried about his mighty 1D6 sneak attack.

I mentioned the Familiar issue and he says he plans to get the Pseudo-Dragon as a Cohort, rather than a Familiar.

My feeling about this player is that he is trying to build cool concepts, not necessarily effective ones. He really doesn't know the rules that well.

His cat-person, for example, supposedly had a base movement of 70. When I checked the Anthropomorphic Leopard build, it listed a base of 30, so I questioned him on it. He had used the Quick trait from Unearthed Arcana (not an approved book), and had a magic tattoo that gave Haste, always on.

I asked what book the Tattoo was from and he said Complete Arcane. The only mention of them in that book is to say that they're specific to Forgotten Realms, and that they work like potions. That is, it takes an hour to inscribe a magic tattoo, and then it can be invoked like drinking a potion. You use it, the effect lasts the same a s a potion of the same spell, and then the tattoo is gone.

He was surprised, since real world tattoos don't go away, ever.

The point is, he hadn't read the rules, did not even have the rule book it actually came from, but had heard someone mention it and thought he could just pay 750 (the price of a 3rd level potion) and be Hasted forever more.

So whatever he ends up with will have to go through a strict and severe review. Not becaues he's trying to break the rules, but because he's breaking them without realizing it.

I hate having to be the rules ogre in situations like this, but sometimes a rules ogre is what the game needs.