Thanee said:
So, that's fair then? "Only" 25 rounds of AMF, which automatically negates all magic, but no freedom of movement automatically successful grapple checks!? Wow! Those guys have quite a different opinion on fairness than I do.
AMF does not negate ALL magic. Mordenkainen's disjunction (even the Exodus'
balanced version) can still bring it down ... Wall of Force and Prismatic Wall/Sphere still stop it ... and so on.
In fact, there was once a match between a Wizard, and a Forsaker ... whose cohort had the Epic feat "permanent emanation: antimagic field". The wizard
won that battle, without overexerting himself overmuch; I remember the match well, because that wizard - an Enchantment-specialised Red Wizard/Archmage - was
my character. And the method of winning was to put a wall of force directly between the then-adjacent Forsaker and her cohort, thus blocking the AMF emanation from the Forsaker's side of the wall (and incidentally, seperating the two for the five or more round the cohort would need to walk around other intervening obstcles on the map) -- which, conveniently enough, was also
the wizard's side of the wall. Another Wall - this time stone - and
voila, the two of us would be left alone to ... "discuss" ... matters ... a Wizard with nearly every spell for the day available to him, and a Forsaker with ... a nonmagical masterwork suit of armor, and similar-quality weapon. *yawn*.
The Forsaker's player acknowledged the then-inevitable, and conceded defeat.
If they allow AMF (but nerf both MD and Contingency), they are highly biased towards non-spellcasters.
Hardly. AMF is allowed in a highly nerfed form. MDJ had to be rebalanced, because - unlike in a "real" game, where casting MDJ would eliminate all of the MAGICAL TREASURE you were trying to acquire, in an Arena where all non-expendable equipment is restored to full function, and where your payoff for victory had NOTHING to do with your opponent's wealth or equipment value at the end of the match,
there was no incentive not to cast MDJ. Matches degenerated to "who cast MDJ first", because SO much of an epic character's power is tied up in their 2,100,000gp of equipment.
Contingency is not nerfed, however. Not in the slightest. In fact, only
actual spellcsters can have a true Contingency, as scrolls/wands/staves of same are not allowed.
Actually, I think this is a good thing for those matches, because otherwise non-spellcasters would be pointless.
Not really. MDJ was nerfed because battles degenerated to "MDJ Chicken" - with scrolls and UMD, it didn't matter if you were a spellcaster or not, if you got off the first (quickened) MDJ, you bsically won the match.
AMF was nerfed to
benefit spellcasters. There was no reason to make them try and play ru-and-hide for upwards of two
hours, so the duration was reduced form 10 minutes per level, to one round per level.
In a match, I can see this. In reality, it's the wizard winning, of course, since after a couple minutes he can come back, fully prepared this time.
No, it's the PC's winning the first encounter, followed by the wizard initiating a new (and more challenging, as he's got lots of short-term combat-buff spells up and running) encounter.
Not really... see above...
Really. If the wizard leaves long enough that you cease to be in combat rounds,
that encounter is over. At the end of the encoutner, who's still standing and "in possession of the disputed terrain" ... ? The PC's. Ergo, they win - unless, as mentioned before, their goal ws to kill or capture the Wizard (in which case they lost the moment he got away).
We don't flee - we regroup!
Bye
Thanee
"Regroup" is a euphemism for "temporary retreat". Nomatter how temporary,
retreat is retreat, and he who retreats from battle ...
has lost that battle.
two said:
So the wizard going into the battle will easily have a contingency (it lasts much longer than a day), one of which (as I stated previously) could well be "teleport me to the other side of the arena up in the air somewhere when somebody gets within 40' of me".
Yes, that would be a legitimate contingency. *shrug* I can probably think of a half-dozen
better things to do with a contingency, but ... that's probably because I prefer
chain contingency.
Onr of the 2 buffs is shapechange (into something nasty which can fly, whatever). Second buff -- pick something.
Only two buffs? Tsk, tsk. The delay rounds are generally used for Timestop-enabled "cast as many buff spells as I can manage" routines. For spellcasters and nonspellcasters alike (a rune of timestop and a beltful of potions and other runes, typically).
That's it. Game over. If the monk approaches with intent to grapple, the teleport goes off, the monk can't close and attack that round, and the wizard gets one round (at least) in which to cast. DONE. Over.
No, not done, and
hardly over. One round of casting is
not guaranteed to take down a Monk.
Especially not if he's in an Antimagic Field. What exactly were youplanning on casting AT the monk, that'd deal him any damage or woes, through that sort of field, hmm?
And after the first time you did that - people would plan for it. Gt a Scroll of Gate, haul in somehting that qualified as "someone" (a PC-eligible race, IOW), hand a love note to the creature, and say "go deliver this to that fellow over there".
Then maneuver themselves to be "on the other side of the arena" from wherever you are. The creature moves close enough, you automatically teleport ...
right into the waiting arms of your adversary.
*shrug* Never assume arena combat is easy,
for any class. It's not.
This works unless the arena is, say, incredibly small in diameter, and the monk can fly, change direction 180' during a charge, etc. etc. etc. (insert silly stuff here). But at that point, you might as well just stuff them into a cardboard box and throw cherry pies at them.
The arenas actually tend to be built to PREVENT first-round contact between combatants, in an effort to REDUCE the importance of initiative (otherwise, let's face it, at Epic levels ... he who shoots first, tends to
maul whatever he just attacked ...). The intent is to make the matches more about
tactics and
planning, than a single pre-match die roll. Typically, they're about 125'x125', give or take a bit, with +/-50 up nd down, for those able to move in all three dimensions.
Tell you what, why don't you drop by the Exodus, and see for yourself?
