What options have you regreted allowing in your game?
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Shade
Monster Junkie
My three biggees:
Fortification armor property: Critical hits went from exciting to nonexistent, enemy rogues were pointless, and I felt the need to try to get this on as many adversaries as possible to help even out the arms race...all for a +5 armor modification.
Mantle of Egregious Might: Grants +4 luck bonus to AC, attack rolls, saving throws, and all ability scores, which totals out to +6 AC and +6 saving throws from a single spell that lasts 10 minutes per level. Plus, since they're luck bonuses, they stack with most other spells that boost abilities, saves, and AC. The wizard rarely fails a save or gets hit anymore.
2-for-1 Power Attack: This one only bugs me because monsters don't get an equivalent bonus. I've since house-ruled that any natural attack that allows the moster to apply 1-1/2 times its Str bonus also grants 2-for-1 Power Attack. This has helped immensely.
Fortification armor property: Critical hits went from exciting to nonexistent, enemy rogues were pointless, and I felt the need to try to get this on as many adversaries as possible to help even out the arms race...all for a +5 armor modification.
Mantle of Egregious Might: Grants +4 luck bonus to AC, attack rolls, saving throws, and all ability scores, which totals out to +6 AC and +6 saving throws from a single spell that lasts 10 minutes per level. Plus, since they're luck bonuses, they stack with most other spells that boost abilities, saves, and AC. The wizard rarely fails a save or gets hit anymore.
2-for-1 Power Attack: This one only bugs me because monsters don't get an equivalent bonus. I've since house-ruled that any natural attack that allows the moster to apply 1-1/2 times its Str bonus also grants 2-for-1 Power Attack. This has helped immensely.
VirgilCaine
First Post
Shade said:My three biggees:
Fortification armor property: Critical hits went from exciting to nonexistent, enemy rogues were pointless, and I felt the need to try to get this on as many adversaries as possible to help even out the arms race...all for a +5 armor modification.
I don't see how this is a big deal. So, you're immune to criticals and sneak attacks. Unless the campaign is rogue-centric, I don't see how this is such a great armor property to get. For the same price I could get ethereal armor. Unless everyone in the party has heavy fortification armor, I don't see a problem.
Edit: Actually, even then, in 3.5 you don't have the 12-20/x2 crit ranges with rapiers or scimitars or whatever stacking Imp Crit./Keen anymore, so that's not a problem.
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Particle_Man
Explorer
Tetsubo said:
Oh I dunno, it made me a bit nostalgic since I remember playing a Paladin in 1st edition that got turned by an evil cleric.
Midknightsun
Explorer
Oh, I have quite a few of those. I'll say, at least, that I've learned from my errors. . .
Hmmmmmm . . . I allowed Combat Rites from Diamondthrone.com into my AE game. The Ritual Warrior ended up becoming a "I have rite to bypass everything" monkey. It had the same effect as adding spells to cleric lists . . . x10. Never again.
I worked with a PC once to create a homebrew feat that ended up coming back to bite me.
Although said player was being a ***** about it and abusing it endlessly. Of course, the first character he ever made was a Frenzied Berserker, so I shoulda guessed . . Fortunately he no longer plays with us.
32 point buy for character creation for a six person party. Just no. I'm sticking with 25 to 28 PB for now on, and no more 4d6 roll 3 sets and take the best. The characters end up with even more ridiculous stats.
Allowed a Favored Soul to take a feat to be able to turn undead *smacks self on forehead*.
Hmmmmmm . . . I allowed Combat Rites from Diamondthrone.com into my AE game. The Ritual Warrior ended up becoming a "I have rite to bypass everything" monkey. It had the same effect as adding spells to cleric lists . . . x10. Never again.
I worked with a PC once to create a homebrew feat that ended up coming back to bite me.
Although said player was being a ***** about it and abusing it endlessly. Of course, the first character he ever made was a Frenzied Berserker, so I shoulda guessed . . Fortunately he no longer plays with us.
32 point buy for character creation for a six person party. Just no. I'm sticking with 25 to 28 PB for now on, and no more 4d6 roll 3 sets and take the best. The characters end up with even more ridiculous stats.
Allowed a Favored Soul to take a feat to be able to turn undead *smacks self on forehead*.
ruleslawyer
Registered User
2e stoneskin. Pretty much everything else I've managed to keep out of my games before it got out of hand.
Sorta OT, but particle_man: I'm not sure why you think grappling in IH is so problematic, given that it's the monsters rather than the PCs who are going to rule the roost in this respect. IH has no core rules that really allow a PC to grapple with any power. I have a mean grappler in my group, but that's because of rules I've *added* to boost grappling, in part to counter monstrous grapplers and in part to make grappling an interesting option. Unless you use the house-ruled armiger ability sentinel's defense (which gives you your DR roll as a boost to armor checks), or the Juggernaut feat in the Iron Heroes Player's Companion (which allows the same thing), or the Unarmed Combat feat mastery, grappling is basically useless for PCs. Having it be a powerful option for monsters is something that I think just makes it one of several tactics that a DM must employ with restraint in a low-magic game (flying and invisible opponents, ability damage and drain, etc. are much worse IMHO).
Sorta OT, but particle_man: I'm not sure why you think grappling in IH is so problematic, given that it's the monsters rather than the PCs who are going to rule the roost in this respect. IH has no core rules that really allow a PC to grapple with any power. I have a mean grappler in my group, but that's because of rules I've *added* to boost grappling, in part to counter monstrous grapplers and in part to make grappling an interesting option. Unless you use the house-ruled armiger ability sentinel's defense (which gives you your DR roll as a boost to armor checks), or the Juggernaut feat in the Iron Heroes Player's Companion (which allows the same thing), or the Unarmed Combat feat mastery, grappling is basically useless for PCs. Having it be a powerful option for monsters is something that I think just makes it one of several tactics that a DM must employ with restraint in a low-magic game (flying and invisible opponents, ability damage and drain, etc. are much worse IMHO).
Shade
Monster Junkie
VirgilCaine said:
Well, it's a fun-killer, since one of the greatest joys for my friends and I is rolling that natural 20 and having the option for a really cool effect. Toss in the Critical Hit deck or the Good Hits and Bad Misses from Dragon Compendium, and they're even more fun. Fortification limits or eliminates this fun aspect of the game.
Rogues are already at a disadvantage, and any monsters that benefit from sneak attack also are sufficiently nerfed by a single magic item. Most other items that grant full immunity to devastating effects are much more expensive.
Particle_Man
Explorer
ruleslawyer said:
But the Iron Heroes Bestiary gives Monster Feats that build on and encourage grappling! The problem is precisely that the PCs are screwed if the big boys grapple them, and grappling them is part of what the Big Boys do in the Bestiary (The big skeleton box that throws you inside itself to make more skeletons, f/rex, as well as some undead that try to get inside you...literally).
So you are correct, I have to cut back on grappling. But I had to learn that *after* seeing the Iron Heroes get their butts handed to them when running a supposedly CR correct session or six.
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