Rules Disagreement with my DM, please help!

[gfunk]

Thanks a lot for the input you guys. I recently chose Bigby's as my second 8th level spell. If my DM insists that he will rule it the way he does, I will probably ask to change it to Horrid Wilting instead.

To go a little beyond straight rules, from a meta-gaming standpoint I think our DM is compensating. We are in a module which takes PCs from 10th-18th level. We started in the middle of it, but all of us are 16th-17th level and absolutely ploughing through all the encounters like a hot knife through butter. Our DM may be giving us a hard time 'cause its too damn easy (until this point anyway).

 

[AGGEMAM]

To go a little beyond straight rules, from a meta-gaming standpoint I think our DM is compensating. We are in a module which takes PCs from 10th-18th level. We started in the middle of it, but all of us are 16th-17th level and absolutely ploughing through all the encounters like a hot knife through butter. Our DM may be giving us a hard time 'cause its too damn easy (until this point anyway).

Well, it is not your problem that he forgot or did not want to up the challenges in City of the Spider Queen to suit your current level.

EDITED CRUCIAL MEANING CHANGING ERROR

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Time for him to get out a pencil and start beefing up the encounters, not weakening spells that realy don't need it.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, I'm just putting my party through City of the Spider Queen, and I'm able to annoy them just right. But that may change once they stop to do the usual mistakes (no anti-invisibility spells, no dispels,...), but even so, it's my responsibility to keep them on their heels.

This can be accomplished by upping up the ante with stronger or more enemies, or to play them to exactly the same extend I'd play a PC (a dragon played right is a killer, as we all know). It's not right to take the power from the players, power I gave them before. It has to be a truly desperate measure, and you should admit you mistake and discuss it beforehand, not try to simply downsize them by decreasing their powers.)


Having read the spell description, especially the boldened part, I must agree with the rest here: The fist uses your sensual input, and is subject to your true seeing. That it uses another STR and AB is because it's not as strong (meaning either stronger or weaker) as me, and is not as good as me (either better or worse) to grasp the seen foe. (Even if two fighters see the same, they don't hit the same: one might be smarter and faster).

 

[The Souljourner]

Suddenly everybody's got a flag.

It's just that the bandwagon looked so comfy, I couldn't resist getting on.

-The Souljourner

 

[Darkness]

Time for him to get out a pencil and start beefing up the encounters, not weakening spells that realy don't need it.

Amen to that.

 

[kreynolds]

Amen to that.

Same here. I bought CotSQ the week it came out in preparation for another game. The players in that game are all at least 16th level, one of them 18th. Its a pain to go through and beef up all those encounters, but its a far better option than nerfing the players themselves.

 

[Victim]

Not everything in the world should be a challenge for 16th level characters. It would add some "realism" for the characters to blow through most of the drow defenses, until the drow dig up some powerful defenders and devise counter tactics.

But I agree that the Clenched Fist should have benefited from the True Seeing.

 

[demon_jr]

Its a pain to go through and beef up all those encounters, but its a far better option than nerfing the players themselves.

Nod.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Not everything in the world should be a challenge for 16th level characters. It would add some "realism" for the characters to blow through most of the drow defenses, until the drow dig up some powerful defenders and devise counter tactics.

But I agree that the Clenched Fist should have benefited from the True Seeing.

Sure but you should go into the encoutner with that in mind. If you plan an encounter or run an adventure that you wanted to be a challenge but you misjudged the players power level/effectiveness then its time to start beefing things up. I'd ahte to weaken a spell after the game was in play unless it was disrupting the game somehow, especially a semi-weak one like bigby's fist.

Heck in my game many encounters are total pushovers. Just because the party is 12-13th level doesn't mean the random bandit gorup jumped form level 3-4ish to level 10ish to make it a challenge. It just means these bandits really picked the wrong people to try and rob.

Usually though pushover encounters are planned that way, sometimes the palyers suprise me and smoke an encoutner I thought would be tough or get beat down but what i think should be an easy encounter but it's become rarer as time goes on and I know more of there capabilities. Of course when you start everyone off at level 16 in is much harder, I know what my team can handle because I've seen them grow so I'm much more aware of their capabilities. In a long adventure though if the party is consistently doing better/worse than I though a pencil and erraser comes in handy for those mods i'm going to do on future encounters.