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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6153439" data-attributes="member: 6681948">The GM framed a scene of a deadly monster.  The players decided the content, choosing flight, or Polymorphing it into a turkey (for variety - I've had enough chicken <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />), or battling it in mortal combat.The salesman can, however, choose to persuade the walrus that having both would be even better to look at, rather than that the walrus should ditch the PS and buy an XBox.Again, poor adventure design.  If the GM decides it would be cool for the 3rd level PCs to be blasted by a 10d6 Fireball, and surprisingly, they all die, can the GM claim his lack of knowledge of the PC's capabilities in designing the adventure wasn't his fault, or should he have an idea of what the PC's can and can't do?  Is it OK for him to have the L7 party Teleported to a room with no exits because he assumed they would just Teleport back out?  Not his fault he was unaware they can't teleport, is it?An average Orc has 8 INT.  Is that how an 8 INT PC would react, or would he be closer to:With or without leaving that easy Touch range?None of which make it any easier for that Touch to be established, do they?OK, let me understand this.  Hitting the wizard in the midst of his spell is useless because he'll make his concentration check, and grappling him is stupid because damage from a typical hit will take him down.  Why do we care if he would make his concentration check if the hit KO's him?OK, so there's no point attempting to disrupt a spell is a useless waste of an action, and a tactic which could more easily disrupt a spell needs to be nerfed for that reason.  Is that the logic I am supposed to be following here?  In any case, I'm good with preventing the spell.  Especially if everyone clustered in a tight group waiting for it and is now perfectly set up for our area effect abilities!  Once that Silence is up, the spellcaster needs to get 15' away from it.  And how does he know what point in space it's hanging in?  Box in the mage seems a good idea.  Especially if he's relying on that Fighter being between him and the enemy...If one action can either silence or kill him, how is he getting the spell off, again?So, the wizard gets to shine in one encounter.  Doesn't sound like the end of the world.  And I fail to see what prevents the GM saying "Well, a few of them creep to the edge of the effect, but they are quickly dispatched by the warriors, so they are defeated".  Done - wizard got his moment to shine, and we carry on to the next encounter.  There is no rule I am aware of that each encounter must be played out to the very last hp, whether the group wants to or not.  Perhaps you can cite the page reference for me.So it's not worth trying to grapple the wizard because a 50% chance of removing him from the game isn't worth the risk, but his spell that has a 50% chance of removing you from the game is worth the effort?  I'm betting that Wizard does not have Combat Reflexes, so I'll bring a friend and chance that staff/dagger strike, thanks.  Or spend a feat on Improved Grapple.So once again, virtually none of the enemies have spellcasters until we decide to flee, and none of them can use their bows to fire on the wizard while the fighter keeps maneuvering to prevent him being charged.Why not just run an all-fighters game, then?  I've never had to target the wizards, but I've also never had them overpower the game.  Sounds to me like a case of "I never play spellcasters, so I dn't know how to run them or how to deal with them, and I never use spellcasting enemies when I GM because, again, I don't know how to run them effectively."  And I suspect you also don't bother with encumbrance (which causes issues for those low STR wizards on occasion).  A 20 starting stat means acccepting weaknesses in other areas, in my experience (did it for a 1/2 orc fighter a while back, though - he didnt have a lot of skill points and wasn't useful for interaction).I recall a higher cost.  3.5 is 250 gp, has a duration of 10 min/level and provides DR 10 that absorbs 150 hp max.  Prior editions, IIRC, ignored 1 attack (and the spell was ignored), then went to 1 attack/level (so it got a lot more play).From dim memory, there was some variance to casting times, but 1/level was a norm.  I don't recall any rules about movement interacting with initiative, but I recall adding some.No verbal components, no somatic components (from being grappled) and no material components that weren't in your hand (from being grappled you can retrieve one with a full round action, though).  At -4.  And if you're pinned, I can attempt to disarm you of your component pouch, although you do get +4 to resist.  Yet grappling a wizard is useless...well, at least you can attack with that dagger.  It doesn't.  Kill might be the wrong word.  "Fight a combat" might be a better one.  The point is that it's a battle scene and Polymorph is less a battle spell and more an interesting utility spell.  I'd like spells like this to be changed to longer casting times so that the idea of Wizards turning people into other things remains but it being used as the answer to a combat situation goes away.Let me parse that through...OK..."Mundane skills, even at extreme levels,  should not be able to accomplish things low level magic can accomplish."  Why not?  Exceptional fast talkers in movies and books seem quite able to defuse combat situations.If you have +39 to your diplomacy roll, you should be able to accomplish some pretty potent things.  What I see from the above is a conscious decision to nerf non-magical abilities.  So why is it surprising magic seems overpowering, then?  The decision to deny non-magical effects any real impact just might have something to do with that result..."If you don't kill me, you don't have to go back""Spare me and I'll lead you to my pot of gold""My brothers are muc plumper and juicier than I"If someone has a +39 Fast Talk or Diplomacy roll, I'm guessing they can come up with means to get the target's attention a lot quicker and more effectively than I can!</blockquote>

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