Worst...Idea...Ever

[Storyteller01]

Monkey Grip

This Feat bugs me.

Especially when the debate wages between 3.o/3.5 definitions.

 

[Storyteller01]

What mammals were ever written up as vermin?

AFAIAC, only vermin I have seen written up that weren't arthropods were jellyfish.

rats are usually classed as vermin, at least with anti-vermin items I've seen..

 

[Zendragon]

For me its the 5 foot step rule. Why does taking a step 5 foot back not cause an AoO but takng a 10 foot step back does.It seems backwards. Hate the whole AoO idea.

Not real fond of ECL's either.

 

[kitoy]

Another thing that did not work for me: the Penanggalan. I know it's based in legend, but I can't take seriously a floathing female vampire head with trailing cholostemy-bag that wants to suck my blood.

I'm Filipino and this thing is taken directly from Filipino mythology. It gave me the willies when I first read about it as a kid in some of my grandfather's books and it gives me the willies now. We call it the mananangal and it preys on pregnant women and children by flying onto the roof of a hut, sticking it's long thread-like tongue through the thatched leaves of the roof or an open window, and sucking it's victims blood through the tongue. *shivers*

When I went to the Philippines for my honeymoon, we stayed at a beautiful resort on the beach for three or four days. Our rooms were actually grass huts on the side of a mountain with a beautiful view of the ocean and the jungle behind us. The opening out to our patio was just a heavy curtain, no glass, no door and we slept under a mosquito net to keep out the bugs. The hut itself was elevated a few feet above the ground and you could see through the wooden slats of the floor to the ground below.

So there I am at night, with my overactive imagination, listening to the sounds of the jungle, waiting for that red thread to come through the ceiling, or up through the floor, or from between the curtains. I did not get any sleep at night at all while I was there. The only time I fell asleep was when the light of dawn would peer through the curtain and my fevered imagination could rest.

I learned two things on that vacation. My imagination is way too active and next time I'm in the jungle in the Philippines, I'm getting a room with doors and windows that lock . . . and air conditioning.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I always thought that the historical look of plate armour was very funky, in particular the pig-snout helms, and the germanic overlapping upper over lower helms. The plate armour was not symmetrical because of mounted combat requirements & the tabards, creast & shield all had their ornaments & coat-of-arms.

There is heaps of room for stylizing the historical look but I cannot stand the utterly stupid and death-invitingly-impractical spikes, hooks and anything else which must catch blows and magnify damage.

 

[wingsandsword]

For me its the 5 foot step rule. Why does taking a step 5 foot back not cause an AoO but takng a 10 foot step back does.It seems backwards. Hate the whole AoO idea.

Not real fond of ECL's either.

I always saw the movement/AoO like this:
5 foot step: A bit of careful movement, waiting for the right moment to take a step and adjusting your position a little.

Normal Move Action: quickly trying to move around a battlefield, too far to move subtly and without enough time to move very carefully, more focused on getting there than not getting hit.

Withdrawal: Doing nothing but getting away as quick as you can, waiting for the right moment to try and slip away and break away from the fight.

ECL is a big sight better than what there used to be. Back in 2e you could play a friggin hatchling (now called wyrmling) dragon at 1st character level (Council of Wyrms), you just had a really steep experience point table.

Oh, and as for the art thing. The art of each edition reflects the era it was made in. Corny cartoonish drawings in the 70's that seem kinda groovy, second edition had the 80's look with big hair, (chainmail) bikinis, and looked like the 80's fantasy movies (Conan/Red Sonja et al), except the art in the players handbook which generally sucked (although the plain B&W illustration of a Shadow in the 2e Monstrous Manual always creeped me out, and the painting of Emirikol the Chaotic in the Players Handbook was cool). In the 90's we had a more "extreme" look and edge, and 3e was released in 2000, and in development in the 90's, reflecting the time. I remember when it came out, and the original idea behind the look was, oddly enough, practicality. The idea that a character might begin with a matched suit of clothes, but then find a magic gauntlet and wear that, or tear something hand have to have it patched with fabric that doesn't match, and wear a helmet that has sentimental value that doesn't blend with everything else, the idea that characters weren't perfect and their equipment would have a "lived in" look. Personally, I miss the Elmore works of the 80's and a lot of that just defines "D&D Art" to me, but I'm not offended by Dungeonpunk.

 

[Gez]

But in the spirit of whining that this thread was started in, let me chip in with: monster characters. This idea is great and it should work, but the fact that one powerful ability can be worth a level, and that hp is tied so directly to level (but not with powers) gives us the Paper Tiger syndrome. I'd hope 4e's monsters are designed with being able to use them in a party in mind.....but I admit, that's probably not high on many designers' lists.

Pipe dream for 4e: precise, rigorous monster design guidelines, ending with the result that HD=level=CR=ECL.

Because it's a pain in the bottom to have monsters that are level 4 (for the purpose of spells and effects), level 2 (for the purpose of pitting them against adventurers) and level 7 (for the purpose of having one among the party). LA should always be zero.

 

[Gez]

rats are usually classed as vermin, at least with anti-vermin items I've seen..

But you're not talking of D&D classification, here. I could say that dwarfs and giants are considered as human as everybody else, and thus should be humans in D&D too...

 

[Gez]

Mithral elves.. ??

The Forgotten Realms have:
Gold Elves, aka Sun Elves, aka Evil Nazi Bastard Melnibonelves.
Silver Elves, aka Moon Elves, aka Default Elves.
Copper Elves, aka Wood Elves, or where they Wild Elves, always confuse them.
Mithral Elves, aka Star Elves, aka we don't have enough elves already.
Lead Elves, aka Dark Elves, aka Drow.
Cobalt Elves, aka Blue Elves, aka Aquatic Elves.
Tungstene Elves, aka Those-Other-Elves-From-There, aka I-Hope-They-Don't-Exist.

And many others!

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

There's no game mechanic for my medium-sized dwarf gnome half-elf* to wield two medium-sized scythes. Sure, he could use a large scythe with Monkey Grip, but he can't pick up two medium-sized scythes and wield them with a penalty of some sort?


*Reincarnate is fun!