What rules don't work?

[S'mon]

I agree about Swallow Whole - utter garbage; luckily easy to ignore. I'd use the RAW for a few weird critters like Purple Worms maybe, but not for real-world creatures like tyrannosaurs.

 

[Thanee]

In your experiences, what rules are you dissatisfied about, because they don't feel right?

Combat with large/strong creatures. The force of impact seems to have no... well... impact.

Also combat in general is often just standing there and trading blows, while combat normally is more maneuvering and movement and less attacking. However, there is often no advantage in maneuvering ('cept flanking and cutting off retreat), and more often even a disadvantage (AoO).

And I agree, that with a large difference in size, there should be a bonus not a penalty to escape a grapple. At the very least, to cover this, the opposed grapple check against an Escape Artist check should not get any size bonus.

Full plates and tower shields for adventurers. Yeah, right!

Hit points and levels, they are so damn artificial.

Hit points have no relation to exhaustion/wounds in any way, even at 0.01% hit points you are totally fine. And levels lead to absurd power accumulation in a short time period. So, it took you 20 years to arrive at 1st level and then another year to reach 10th level or so.

Armor class of tiny animals. Ever tried to catch a squirrel?

Oh, and not to forget most of the psionic rules (tho, the flavor is fine with most of them).

Bye
Thanee

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I agree about Swallow Whole - utter garbage; luckily easy to ignore. I'd use the RAW for a few weird critters like Purple Worms maybe, but not for real-world creatures like tyrannosaurs.

Heh, sounds about right. And now that Gibbering Mouthers have been given Swallow Whole I have no problem with those protoplasmic monsters sealing up sliced gullets. But giant lizards? Give me a break! The poor thing dies of peritonitis! (Not a pleasant death, even for a tyrant lizard.)

And I really cannot stand square monsters - one of the few rules that I kept from 3.0 is the face/reach from the MM. A horse is not square!

The Auld Grump, is that my bed calling to me? Time to go check...

 

[Thanee]

And I really cannot stand square monsters - one of the few rules that I kept from 3.0 is the face/reach from the MM. A horse is not square!

Heh. I see it more of required zone to fight than anything, especially since they can attack in every direction with no facing rules, but of course it's a bit silly at times... for example when you have a battle line formed of riders.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gentlegamer]

Hit points have no relation to exhaustion/wounds in any way, even at 0.01% hit points you are totally fine.

Here's a post I made in regard to this topic on the old D&D-L back in 2000:

I've always thought of hit points as luck and fatigue. When the high level character is struck (or fails a save) for 20+ points of damage, it could be physical but usually I describe it as no real damage. Instead, it represents the character avoiding damage and using luck and skill to survive.

However, the character's luck has a finite and measureable total. When it reaches say, 10 hp, he has some wounds, but more importantly, tempted fate many times and should take it easy. Usually this calls for a retreat from the situation to "heal."

The various cure wounds spells heal some wounds but mostly invigorate the "wounded" character with positive energy represented by recovered hit points. The character's "luck" total is restored and may safely resume risking his neck, relatively confident of his skills and the "favor of the gods" to keep him from death.

The application of what hit points represent should always change given the situation and the type of "damage" the character sustains. In the end it is the DM's call to describe it, but the mechanic gives the player and referee a concrete reference point for the amount of punishment, stress, fatigue, and plain old luck the character can endure before death.

For example, while very strong, Conan's greatest attribute was his barbarian background that gave him incredible quickness (usually described as panther-like), and a sort of "sixth sense" (kind of like Spider Man) that allowed him to avoid damage that would kill him.

In D&D terms, when Conan takes 50 points of damage and has, say, 50 hit points remaining, he actually avoided the giant's boulder through reflexive agility. The 50 points of "damage" is for game play, so that Conan will not be Superman and escape harm indefinately. The hit points represent the general reliability of Conan's quickness and panther-like reflexes to avoid real harm. However, if his hp total reached around 10, he is either tired or has tempted fate too many times. The low hit point total is a concrete
clue to the player of Conan that it is time to take it easy. I also add that if one were to make Conan a D&D barbarian, his agility and "sixth sense" would be represented by the d12s for hit points and the uncanny dodge ability.

In other game systems, like GURPS, the realism of the game mechanics makes a single roll of the dice enough to end a mighty hero's career, with no forwarning. The purpose of the high total of hit points for high level characters is to allow the player know how much he is risking each time he goes adventuring, and when to retreat. The high hit points allow the player to act, with some confidence, like a hero.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Add me to the list of those who think "swallow whole" is ridiculous. I'd say they wrote that bit to head off any arguments about critical hits ("jeez, I just cut a hole in that thing and it's still able to fight?!?") but it just doesn't make sense, except in the case of weird critters, as mentioned above.

 

[VirgilCaine]

The other thing about big creatures is that the easiest way to kill them is to jump into their mouths with a +1 wounding dagger, since they all have much lower ACs on the inside. Cutting your way out is a sinch, especially compared to cutting your way in. I'm imagining there's a group of halfling assassins out there who specialize in "Into the Mouth" combat techniques.

You must be able to know where to strike a vulnerable area. PrC, requiring Knowledge (anatomy) or whatever, yes. The average assassin, no.
"It's all green in here! And it hurts!"

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I agree with the "swallow whole" is bunk crowd.

Other rules I really don't like are:

1/2 ranks in skills. I've thrown that out completely. Cross class skills still cost 2 points per rank, but I've ditched the 1/2 ranks. While it speeds up progression toward some prestige classes, it doesn't seem to throw balance off.

The Attack of Opportunity rules are a complete cluster-foxtrot to me, and most of them don't hold up if you try to re-enact them live. If I'm engaged in a toe to toe fight with a hobgoblin, and my companion moves past him in the area he threatens, the hobgoblin gets to make a free attack at his highest attack bonus. What's to keep me from getting a flanking attack when he turns his attention to my buddy? Nothing. I fenced in college, and while I'm not as good as I used to be, I still know the basics. And if you turn your attention from your foe for even an instant, you're gonna get poked.

I have NEVER liked armor as a means to make you harder to hit. Armor should absorb damage. Period.

I don't like that iterative attacks begin at +6. the 1/2 and 3/4 combat progression classes have to use a +0 at first level, so why don't fighters and other 1/1 classes have to suffer a +0 BAB when their highest bonus reaches +5? To me, +5/+0 makes much more sense.

Anyway...I'll think of more later, I'm sure. I'm off to work for now.

 

[diaglo]

Encumbrance doesn't work.


my 30 lb halfling with 15 str can lift 150 lbs over his head.

while the 200 lb human with 17 str can lift 260 lbs over his head.

 

[Romnipotent]

D20