D&D 3E/3.5 Spell/Rule Changes from 3.0 to 3.5 -- How did we survive 3.0?

[Jeff Wilder]

And, after 4 hours, we're usually ready to leave the dungeon for a day.

Which is exactly why they lowered the duration of the animal buffs to one minute per level.

For the record, we use the revised duration, and the spells see use in our games. Our house rule was to up the bonus to +5, to give just a tiny bit more utility to odd stats.


Jeff

 

[Bauglir]

The thing about the shorter buff durations that bothered me is that they made the scry-buff-teleport routine that bit more powerful. Under 3.0 the victims could at least have had the long duration buffs running, lessening the attackers' advantage if only a little.

 

[rangerjohn]

It assumes he does IF he has time to prepare. Which he may or may not.

A 15th level party has access to mighty divination spells, has probably fought demons and devils before, and should damn well be prepared for this kind of thing (especially invisibility). If they're not, then they don't deserve to beat a foe 5 crs above them.

I don't call owning silversheen and oil of bless weapon 'advanced knowledge'. I call it basic adventuring protocol for levels 11-20. If you're coming up against a major demon as a BBEG (he IS 5 crs above you, remember?), then you SHOULD have some inkling of what he is.

Flight is passe at this sort of level. If parties are still being stumped by flight, then they deserve to get dropped.

Greater Teleport will help set him up as a recurring BBEG, but it's unlikely to help him take on the party, unless their quest is to slay him (in which case they're probably prepared).

Either he's fighting to keep them away from something (which he won't succeed at if he teleports away) OR he's fighting to kill them (which... again...).

Regardless - you're complaining that going into a fight 5 crs above you, which you've given a chance to prepare, and know nothing about is going to be tough.

Well, duh.

Why do you keep saying 5 crs above. You are the only one who has mentioned 15th level.

 

[Nail]

The thing about the shorter buff durations that bothered me is that they made the scry-buff-teleport routine that bit more powerful. Under 3.0 the victims could at least have had the long duration buffs running, lessening the attackers' advantage if only a little.

But now (3.5e), you can do this:

False Vision
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Brd 5, Sor/Wiz 5, Trickery 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 40-ft.-radius emanation
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Any divination (scrying) spell used to view anything within the area of this spell instead receives a false image (as the major image spell), as defined by you at the time of casting. As long as the duration lasts, you can concentrate to change the image as desired. While you aren’t concentrating, the image remains static.

Check out that saving throw.

You can also cast Detect Scrying, which last 24 hours, and is an "auto detect", no save.

Lastly, Scry allows a Will save. That's key.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Why do you keep saying 5 crs above. You are the only one who has mentioned 15th level.

I picked a level where beating a pit fiend wouldn't be impossible.

I ran an example using that level.
You argued against that, using arguments like "they don't know that stuff, they won't have that stuff, they're not ready for him".

I said "well duh, if you're going to give him the drop on them, of course they'll lose - it's got nothing to do with his DR".

 

[two]

Well, is it a Ph.D. in Economics?

har har... I'm very sympathetic with your unstated criticism, however, and fully agree, although there are even more worthless Ph.D's out there for sure; psychology (the various non-medical specializations) in particular seems very weak, and stuff like Freudian psychoanalysis is simply scraping the bottom of a very deep and musty barrel. Cultural Studies is, of course, completely absurd. When you have sat through a few papers contrasting Star Trek captains with Shakespearian characters, or modern high fashion to the intracacies of Darwinian prose (The Beagle voyage narrative) as I have, it's necessary to suppress an urge to scream, rant, rave, and simply pit a fit. Serious drinking after the symposiums also works.

But no, I'm a classicist, so at the very very least I have "actual" knowledge regarding certain specialized subjects, such as the Latin, Greek, etc. languages, etc.