Size bonus to AC - drop it?

[Kerrick]

I read your talk about dragons being overpowered, and True Strike came to mind, which of course can be a problem with PCs too. A simple house rule I came up with is "You can't gain the benefits of any option that increases damage (feat, class ability, spell) with any attack augmented with True Strike." That removes the DM's temptation to use dive-power-attacking-true-striking dragons, and a few other problems.

True strike was intended to aid PCs who needed to hit really high ACs, or who wanted to absolutely, positively, get the hit they needed. Dragons (especially dive-bombing ones) don't really need it - their ABs are already high enough. Adding true strike is just overkill.

I was also interested to see that you plan on eventually dealing with the epic rules. Other than the Immortal's Handbook, you may want to check out my own Epic Level Handbook that I wrote after running an epic game by RAW. *shudder*

I'm borrowing a lot of UK's rules, most of which are on his site - limited immunities, tweaked energy resistance - and adding some of my own - fixing some of the more broken spells, boosting the low save, adjusting EAB/EAS, fixing magic item pricing, and overhauling the epic spell system. I intend to use the epic system for grand rituals - I borrowed the idea of rituals from 4E, though I the number of spells waaay down; grand rituals are the epic ones.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'm borrowing a lot of UK's rules, most of which are on his site - limited immunities, tweaked energy resistance - and adding some of my own - fixing some of the more broken spells, boosting the low save, adjusting EAB/EAS, fixing magic item pricing, and overhauling the epic spell system. I intend to use the epic system for grand rituals - I borrowed the idea of rituals from 4E, though I the number of spells waaay down; grand rituals are the epic ones.

I scrapped epic spell casting altogether; it doesn't do anything that the spell slot system can't do better and it adds a whole new [broken] system for epic players to learn.

TS

 

[Sylrae]

Just to double check something.

fine 0
diminutive 1
tiny 2
small 4
medium 8
large 16
huge 32
gargantuan 64
colossal 128

right?

then adjust the numbers so medium is 0?

fine 8
diminutive 7
tiny 6
small 4
medium 0
large -8
huge -24
gargantuan -56
colossal -120

Thats what the exponential funtion looks like from a logical perspective, but -120 is a massive adjustment.


alternatively
fine 1/16 + 1/8 + 1/4 + 1/2
diminutive 1/8 + 1/4 + 1/2
tiny 1/4 + 1/2
small 1/2
medium 0
large -1
huge -2
gargantuan -4
colossal -8

lol. but thats just ridiculous

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Yeah, exponential progressions are pretty absurd and impossible to use well in an RPG. That's why I favor flat progressions.

TS

 

[Noumenon]

Tequila, those house rules of yours are really good, and well justified. I stole your Toughness feat immediately. XP awarded.

 

[R1C0F3TT]

I meant to say within two sizes of your own (larger OR smaller). Oopsie.

How can you justify that a huge creature wouldn't be able to grapple a small creature?

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Tequila, those house rules of yours are really good, and well justified. I stole your Toughness feat immediately. XP awarded.

Glad to be of help!

TS

 

[Kerrick]

I scrapped epic spell casting altogether; it doesn't do anything that the spell slot system can't do better and it adds a whole new [broken] system for epic players to learn.

Amen. I ditched the whole thing and went to a level-based system too.

Just to double check something.

fine 0
diminutive 1
tiny 2
small 4
medium 8
large 16
huge 32
gargantuan 64
colossal 128

right?

then adjust the numbers so medium is 0?

Youre right so far... but I'm using the same modifiers as the ones for size (I assume you were addressing me), like what you have here:

alternatively
fine 1/16 + 1/8 + 1/4 + 1/2
diminutive 1/8 + 1/4 + 1/2
tiny 1/4 + 1/2
small 1/2
medium 0
large -1
huge -2
gargantuan -4
colossal -8

lol. but thats just ridiculous

I'm not sure where you get the oddball fractions for small sizes, though...

How can you justify that a huge creature wouldn't be able to grapple a small creature?

I didn't mean that it couldn't happen, just that it shouldn't be done so as to balance out the system a bit. It's a kludge. I use the Pathfinder system, but I'm going to add Noumenon's modification in (after I test it out).