Miniatures Handbook Spells in regular game?

[Lex Talionis]

Hi. Thanks to Ema's excellent character sheets, the party wizard now sees a bunch of spells that beforehand we didn't know much about.

After finally figuring out that these spells were from the Miniatures Handbook, I was wondering if other DM's were allowing these spells in the normal game.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am at work and trying to answer player emails at the same time

cheers

 

[Silveras]

Hi. Thanks to Ema's excellent character sheets, the party wizard now sees a bunch of spells that beforehand we didn't know much about.

After finally figuring out that these spells were from the Miniatures Handbook, I was wondering if other DM's were allowing these spells in the normal game.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am at work and trying to answer player emails at the same time

cheers

Some spells are being discussed in this thread

 

[the Jester]

Well, I don't have the MiniHB, and one reason is that- from many different bits and pieces I heard- it didn't sound like it would be balanced with 'regular' dnd (i.e. a party of pcs).

The, um, sudden? (or whatever they're called) spells are a bit much for my tastes; the guy with auras sounds like a vastly-overpowered bard who's always inspiring something; etc.

But as I said, I don't actually own the book, and I haven't really read it. I've just heard many a story, and I have an almost-obsessive fear of unbalanced items, spells, prcs, etc. (Break the FR or something if you wish, but leave my campaign world be!)

 

[LGodamus]

I allow everything from the minis handbook except the spontaneous divine spellslinger....none of the spells have had much effect, but one of the items is a doozy......(almost forgot it).....that I havent allowed and never will....it gives +6 to every ability and for very little cost....

 

[Felon]

Well, I don't have the MiniHB, and one reason is that- from many different bits and pieces I heard- it didn't sound like it would be balanced with 'regular' dnd (i.e. a party of pcs). The, um, sudden? (or whatever they're called) spells are a bit much for my tastes; the guy with auras sounds like a vastly-overpowered bard who's always inspiring something; etc. But as I said, I don't actually own the book, and I haven't really read it. I've just heard many a story, and I have an almost-obsessive fear of unbalanced items, spells, prcs, etc.

Know what? Chances are you heard those stories from people who just leafed through the book and rejected the content out of hand. The marshal, healer, and warmage are very specialized, but only the latter one really has an unbalancing edge over PHB base classes.

As for swift actions, the important thing to realize is that A) they're just free actions that have a hard limit of only one per round, and B) most if not all swift spells have a duration of 1 round (or "instantaneous"). You can cast fly or invisibility as a free action, have the rest of the round to do something, then at the start of your next round the spell's over. No big whoop really.

The one thing to keep in mind about the Mini Handbook spells is that they are designed expressly for combat efficiency, not exploration or investigation or to make trekking through the wilderness easier.

 

[langolas]

Hi. Thanks to Ema's excellent character sheets, the party wizard now sees a bunch of spells that beforehand we didn't know much about.

After finally figuring out that these spells were from the Miniatures Handbook, I was wondering if other DM's were allowing these spells in the normal game.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I am at work and trying to answer player emails at the same time

cheers

I only allow new stuff like that if the player alerts me BEFORE springing it on me. If they try somthing out of a book or magazine without getting my permission I smack them down. I hate it when players surprise me with "rules" from a source I don't have

 

[Skullfyre]

My Dm will only allow anything from the splat books only if he has an original copy.(In other words if he does not have the Handbook, I can not use mine.... So there fore I get the party to assist in buying the book(s) for him so that we can eventually have them. )

Also remember Rule zero. It is your game, if you do not want it then it is not allowed.

 

[Lex Talionis]

Thanks for the comments guys. We also follow the rule that if I don't have the book or they are not willing to leave it at my place, then it definitely wont be allowed. Also I reserve the right to rule zero anything that messes with my Storyline.

It just threw me for a loop since Ema's Character sheets usually stick to Core stuff only and my rule of thumb is WOTC stuff is fairly balanced and I dont have to worry (much)

I will have to wait until this weekend when I can get a look at the actual book I guess.

Thanks for your replies

Darren

 

[~Johnny~]

The, um, sudden? (or whatever they're called) spells are a bit much for my tastes; the guy with auras sounds like a vastly-overpowered bard who's always inspiring something; etc.

The sudden spell feats are pretty good. For those that don't know, each one allows you to use a specific metamagic feat once per day without using up a higher-level spell slot. But having to buy two feats so my wizard can cast a maximized fireball as a third-level spell once per day doesn't seem too broken to me. Maybe it's because I'm not a min-maxer, but I'd rather spend that extra feat on something that will help the character all the time or provide greater definition to their character.

As for the Marshal, check him out here and decide for yourself:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b

If you ask me, he's actually underpowered. I'm always interested in decent fighters that have good Cha-based skils, and I like the flavor, but the always-on auras don't do much for me.

 

[Li Shenron]

After finally figuring out that these spells were from the Miniatures Handbook, I was wondering if other DM's were allowing these spells in the normal game.

I simply don't. In fact, if you happen to have the earlier version of EMA's 3.5 character sheets (the one with ONLY 3.5 core rulebooks), please let me know because I don't want to have non-core stuff on the char sheets, but I simply find EMA's sheets the best I have seen up to now