What are the biggest rules debates?

[Merlion]

Oh and another big debate would be multiclassing, especially spellcaster multiclassing. Is it good enough, how should it be fixed, are classes like Mystic Theurge, Arcane Trickster, Eldritch Knight, Spellsword, Focluchan Lyrist etc sufficient to fix the problems, are they themselves balanced etc etc

 

[atom crash]

It was certainly spelled out in 3e to work one way, and it's unlikely to radically change to 3.5e, so I'll stick with the intent for now.

That's certainly a very valid interpretation. Maybe the wording change from 3.0 to 3.5 was unintentional.

However, I'd argue that since it was revised in 3.5, the changes were intentional. After all, a lot of things were revised and some of them were changed dramatically.

I feel that's an equally valid interpetation, not just a silly argument.

Edit: Patryn beat me to it while I was fine-tuning my response.

 

[Piratecat]

Storm Raven, it seems like you're going out of your way to be both aggressive and insulting. Please stop doing so; there is no need to belittle others, even if they find the AoO rules more confusing than you do.

If this is somehow a problem, please feel free to email me. I expect the insults and nastiness to stop as of this point, however.

Let's refocus the thread on rules issues and not personal attacks, please.

 

[Staffan]

Let's refocus the thread on rules issues and not personal attacks, please.

But 3.5e removed the refocus action...

 

[Joshua Randall]

On a more serious, non-swallow related note, many of the things mentioned in this thread are not rules debates; rather, they are debates about game balance. E.g., the Mystic Theurge. I don't think there is any debate about what the PrC does -- which would be a rules debate.

A rules debate is something like all the monk / natural attack weirdness, or whether hiding is functionally equivalent to being invisible.

So if you really want to compile a list of rules debates, you should focus on rules, and not on other stuff.

 

[Merlion]

It all depends on how narrowly you want to define rules debate. Debates about the balance of the rules are in fact rules debates, no less so than debates about how the rules work. And often the two can become intertwined, when someone feels that another person's interpretation of a rule is unbalanced.


I dont see much point in attempting to seperate the two, as they are aspects of the same thing.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

As mentioned I think I can see where the whole issue comes from. It's clear that you can only get a flanking bonus if you're flanking (it's a flanking bonus after all), and that you get a flanking bonus if you're attacking with a melee weapon and have an ally on an opposite border or corner. However, it's not stated whether you can actually flank and not get the flanking bonus. Yes, I think I understand where the opposite view is coming from, although I don't think that was the intent. Then again, people keep arguing against intent again, but I was just trying to understand this, not argue it, so I'm content now!

I follow the barbarian argument in relation to the flanking one, although, again, I don't think that was the intent. It was certainly spelled out in 3e to work one way, and it's unlikely to radically change to 3.5e, so I'll stick with the intent for now.

Pinotage

Intent? What is this intent you speak of? I don't remember seeing anything in the RAW about intent.

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

It all depends on how narrowly you want to define rules debate.

The real question is, "Is a debate about the scope of rules debates a rules debate?"

 

[mvincent]

- Can arrows be made keen?
- What does “When fighting in this way” refer to in the Two weapon fighting description?
- What does “wielding” refer to?
- Can the “shadowy illumination” of the Darkness spell increase ambient lighting?
- Does powerful build (or monkey grip) help when wielding a weapon two-sizes larger than you?
- What is the cost of a standard Strand of Prayer Beads without the bead of smiting?
- Does a sleeping person get a reflex save? (answered in the 3.5 FAQ)
- Can a bag of holding safely go into a rope trick or another bag of holding? (answered in the 3.0 FAQ)
- How much damage does a shrunken object do when it hits something?
- Does the light produced by Sunblades harm Vampires? (answered in the 3.5 FAQ)
- Can you wear magic gloves under a spiked gauntlet?
- Can a bead of Karma increase non-divine caster levels?
- Are special material costs modified by size?
- Can a Tarrasque be killed by drowning it?
- Can skeleton’s truly be evil?
- Can a Monk flurry with a gauntlet? (answered in the 3.5 FAQ)
- What happens if you eat a troll?
- Can you put multiple flaming abilities on the same weapon?
- Can reincarnate be maximized?
- Do special materials increase crafting times?
- How tired are you if you sleep two nights in a row in armor?
- What is the strength multiplier of a lance wielded in one hand? (answered in the 3.5 FAQ)
- Does a hydra make multiple attacks on a single AoO?

 

[Prism]

My questions aren't as common but I can't ever recall a fully satisfactory answer

How many grapple attempts a round does a polar bear get?
How many grapple attempts a round does a carrion crawler get?
How many grapple attempts a round does a centaur get?
How many grapple attempts a round does a marilith get?

When a creature with improved grab grapples an opponent does it lose the rest of its natural attacks (if it has any)