Worst 3.5 Change

[Shard O'Glase]

Just out of curiosity, Shard, have you ever had any kind of self-defense training? I ask because when I took classes, we did quite a lot of work designed to make us aware of our surroundings and be ready for attacks from behind. Based on that, I don't think it's a silly premise at all.

J

yes I have.

Problems are

1. even being more aware isn't all aware, people still can sneak up on blackbelts in a fight.

2. how aware you are always seems to relate to how challenged you are by the person you are facing. There are times where all your attention is focussed on the guy in fornt of you. Anything less means your missing a block.

3. the lack of facing rules apply to everyone, even commoners, not just those with combat training.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

So why do you *think* they put the listen skill in there then?

The idea that "outside of combat there is no facing" has no basis in the rules, nor in common sense.

they put listen in because there are two aspects of sneaking up on someone not being seen and not being heard.

The idea that facing doesn't exist in or out of combat doesn't exist in common sense, but facing in the rules does not exist at all. If you can point out the passage where they mention facing by all means do. But reading encounter distance, spot, hide, spoting distance etc. facing is never brought up. I beleive this is because spot is your visual awareness not just your ability to see forward.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If you can point out the passage where they mention facing by all means do.

"An opponent can shut his eyes, turn his back on the creature, or wear a blindfold. In these cases, the opponent does not need to make a saving throw. The creature with the gaze attack gains total concealment against the opponent as if the creature were invisible. Thus, any attack the opponent makes against the creature has a 50% miss chance, and the opponent can’t use sight to target attacks."

-----

"Note: Each round, the character can turn to detect things in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it."

-Hyp.

 

[Rashak Mani]

I´ve got to say I´m really bored with the topics I´m reading on spell durations. Ruined Fly and Invisibility IMO. Making too many spells that last 1min/lvl and Im not seeing any 10min/lvl. Lots of running in the dungeon now and LOTS of time keeping for the DM. WotC should ship free stopwatches for people who buy the DMG.

 

[LordAO]

There are too many things I don't like about 3.5 to list here. Most of all, I don't like 3.5 itself. It is far too early for a new edition!

But most of all, I hate the new spell focus, Paladin mount, Buff spells, Haste, and Damage Reduction.

And why they didnt get rid of the God-forsaken Mordenkainen's Disjunction spell, I'll never know!

 

[Shard O'Glase]

"An opponent can shut his eyes, turn his back on the creature, or wear a blindfold. In these cases, the opponent does not need to make a saving throw. The creature with the gaze attack gains total concealment against the opponent as if the creature were invisible. Thus, any attack the opponent makes against the creature has a 50% miss chance, and the opponent can’t use sight to target attacks."

-----

"Note: Each round, the character can turn to detect things in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it."

-Hyp.

Lets see a combat maneuver where facing is expressly not there that lets you expressly not look at someone so you don't get zapped by their gaze attack. Yeah that shows that ther's is faicng and that spot doesn't encompass everything.

And a spell with a cone shape area of effect, where the definition of cones determines that you have to show where its pointing since its a cone and not a emanation.

Heck in the encounter distance seciton they let you spot people when both groups are walking in opposite directions hence they are behind you. Its not determined by if you decide to look behind you its determined by a spot check and those whith higher spots will in effect look behind themselves more often than those with poor spots. If you are tailing someone a spot check is used to see if your spotted, you don't have to turn around constantly and say I'm looking for a tail, no you just spot them.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Lets see a combat maneuver where facing is expressly not there that lets you expressly not look at someone so you don't get zapped by their gaze attack. Yeah that shows that ther's is faicng and that spot doesn't encompass everything.

I'm afraid I have no idea what you just said.

I recognise most of the words individually, but the order you put them together doesn't really yield a workable result.

I can't even tell if you're trying to be sarcastic or not...

-Hyp.