What's the most broken PC you've ever seen?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Besides, it's the character not the spell and that's a valid character.

Isn't this what DMs always get annoyed about hearing? Players demanding that something is valid, even though they're using OPTIONS such as PrCs, non-Core items, etc etc, just beacuse its in a WotC book.

 

[Crothian]

Crothian, we've learned since 1E you shouldn't design spells without a cap. If you do you should look carefully at the ruleset and see what adds to them. Caster level increases are not typed in 3.5, they all stack. This is the most broken spell ever in the history of D&D as written.

Right, which is why the problem is in the CL boost and not the spell. At 20th level havign a spell that kills anything with 10 or less HD is not that bad. However, adding in all these caster level boosters makes it bad.

 

[DungeonMaster]

Well in a real game not many people will take 3x Spell Power on Hierophant, because the Hierophant PrC doesn't boost your spells per day.. only your caster level.

I would. In a real game. Breaking 3.5 is all about caster level. You take buddy there with crazy caster level and cast even a simple 5th level spell resistance and you get SR on the order of, um, 52.
Try a maximized empowered "poison" spell with that kind of caster level.
~15 Con damage save DC 50+ and SR checked at 44+.
Not cute.

 

[hong]

Absolute worst I've ever seen: 3.5 cleric with a penchant for caster level increase and holy word, blasphemy and company. This is the most broken and poorly designed spell in the history of D&D.

You're new here, aren't you?

Just up your caster level and you can kill roomfuls of titans, balors and pitfiends with a standard action (or a free action if you use a metamagic rod of quicken or divine metamagic).
Try this: 17 cleric/ 3 heirophant spell power + orange ioun stone + prayer bead of karma + ankh of ascension + death knell's spell + create magic tatoo + divine spell power feat.
That's a caster level of 20+3+1+1+4+4+1+4= 39.

Stupid DMs give broken clerics unlimited time to get their powerups going. The answer is not to play with stupid DMs or broken clerics.

 

[hong]

I would. In a real game. Breaking 3.5 is all about caster level.

Why do you want to break the game?

 

[Mistwell]

Harm still beats the Hulking Hurler. Especially if you consider that the HH is multiclassing to the point where he is ONLY good at throwing things. The Harm casting Cleric is a Cleric...already a monster.

The hurler is killing 4 people (or more) with one blow, for millions of damage. 3.0 Harm is only one creature, and by definition not a killing blow.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

The hurler is killing 4 people (or more) with one blow, for millions of damage. 3.0 Harm is only one creature, and by definition not a killing blow.

Except that, considering the size of the boulders needed, the Huler can only carry one of those things around and still have other equipment/room to carry treasure. Clerics can cast Harm multiple times. You don't just find huge boulders around everywhere.

 

[hong]

Chances are that the people who seriously consider playing a hulking hurler are also the people who tend to play in CRPG-mode, where carrying around 5 suits of plate mail, 10 swords, 5 bows, 999 arrows, 20 potions and a torch is considered normal.

(The torch is because, d00d, this is a roleplaying game, come on.)

 

[Crothian]

The hurler is killing 4 people (or more) with one blow, for millions of damage. 3.0 Harm is only one creature, and by definition not a killing blow.

Because people huddle together when they a see giant about to throw a 20 foot rock?

 

[DungeonMaster]

Right, which is why the problem is in the CL boost and not the spell. At 20th level havign a spell that kills anything with 10 or less HD is not that bad. However, adding in all these caster level boosters makes it bad.

I can't explain why they decided to include so many caster level increases in 3.5. My guess is lack of playtesting and they wanted to do something about spell DCs. Sadly increasing caster level isn't any better, and in fact is worse than high spell DCs.
I likewise don't know why holy word was "uncapped" but a nearly identical arcane spell "circle of death" was kept uncapped.
It's A- dumb and B- bias towards the divine casters.

Anyhow, it's all irrelevant really even if it's legitimate. You can play a game with 3rd edition harm, I know, I run one. You just can't play one with "holy cow". The DM will just ban the spell or revert to the reasonable 3rd edition version. It's not just the players than can abuse this. The DM can do this as well with the half-fiend template. The half-fiend's caster level for blasphemy is it's HD. Needless to say you can kill Odin/Hextor/YouPick as a standard action, let alone all the PCs with just a little twinkery.

Anyhow with the stir created I guess my PC wins the brokeness prize?

And Hong, I honestly don't care about breaking the game. It's all in fun. I'll play a single classed fighter in a game full of halftauren/paragon/fig1/bar2/sorc1/WarHulk/HulkingHurlers
I care much much more about archetype than anything else actually.