WotC mistakes that cause you headaches -

[Repentant Lurker]

If there is one mistake that I could wave my magic wand over and have corrected it would be the decision to put an F**%^*##... advertisement in place of an INDEX!

 

[Agent Oracle]

It is a blatant PC or NPC "Powergame" move that borders on pure Munchkin. Matter of fact, about the only thing that doesn't make it Munchkin is that it's allowed by RAW.

Nooo... Munchkins inherently get away with everything they are capable of doing. That's pretty damn munchkinny.

Bear in mind though, at the level you are discussing, your opponent wins initiative, drops a quickened "Force cage" and "Dimensional Anchor" on you. No save for either. Suddenly, your mage is completely and totally locked down. Cast your time stop, and watch in horror as the first delayed blast fireball zips from your staff, then promptly bonks into the invisible wall in front of you. and drops at your feet. Sure, you could hit it with a "disintegrate" spell, but by then your whole rhythm is screwed up, and you still have to move away from the fireball sitting at your feet, so you've got to move. Try to teleport and... uh-oh! dimensional anchor! Overall, your Time Stop Trick has been seriously boned.

Your plan: Burns 11 spells and seriously wipes out your top-shelf damagers.

His plan: takes two middling-level spells and locks you down solidly.

Or suppose the rogue gets initiative: He sees a caster, And twang goes his longbow! That's 30d6, damage possibly 40d6 if he's a bow specialist, possibly more! Plus assorted magical bonuses and damage from whatever weapon he's using: gods help you if it's a magebane weapon! Can you say "Save vs. Massive damage?" All that gets tacked on to the concentration check for you to cast your time stop. Bad luck.

Don't get me started on what the fighter with two prestige classes can do to you if he wins initiative.

So basicly, for that to work: you have to (a) be absurdly high level (b) posess a selection of specific magical objects and (c) win initiative.

 

[Imre]

DMG pg 284: "Most mithral armors are one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations".

It has nothing to do with proficiency, and to make it do so is foolish.

 

[Sejs]

Be a Vampire, and have a Plane of Mirrors around to "run away" into.

*brain explodes*

 

[jensun]

Bear in mind though, at the level you are discussing, your opponent wins initiative, drops a quickened "Force cage" and "Dimensional Anchor" on you. No save for either. Suddenly, your mage is completely and totally locked down. Cast your time stop, and watch in horror as the first delayed blast fireball zips from your staff, then promptly bonks into the invisible wall in front of you. and drops at your feet.

Why exactly as a mage are you trying to kill yourself with DBF when your opponent encases you in a forceage?
Thats makes no sense what so ever.

Or suppose the rogue gets initiative: He sees a caster, And twang goes his longbow! That's 30d6, damage possibly 40d6 if he's a bow specialist, possibly more! Plus assorted magical bonuses and damage from whatever weapon he's using: gods help you if it's a magebane weapon! Can you say "Save vs. Massive damage?"

Assuming that he hits. You do realise that Mages are on of the best classes for pumping AC if they really want to. Also, Heavy Fortification is one of the most commonly sought enchantments in high level games along with the one from BoED that negates energy drain.

Even if you are in Core as well worded Contingency will avoid this situation. Its also arguable that Moment of Prescience can add to Initiative rolls meaning you arent going to win initiative. If you go beyond Core to the SC then Celerity means the Mage doesnt care if you win initiative.

All that gets tacked on to the concentration check for you to cast your time stop. Bad luck.

Only if you ready an action to shoot the caster when he casts his spell. And then you are only getting one shot at him and hoping that you hit.

 

[glass]

How's that? That FAQ entry has been around for alooooong time.

Now if they could only give us the right answer...


glass.

 

[glass]

That it hit so shortly after I finished learning the first system, for one thing. Having learned both 3.0 and 3.5 so close together, I occasionally remember a 3.0 as a 3.5 rule, and vice-versa.

For other complaints, I could go on a bit, but instead I will quote someone a bit more on top of this stuff: There's more, but this stuff resonated most with me (especially weapon sizes). You can read more here (if you somehow didn't see it before):http://www.montecook.com/arch_review26.html. Old but still spot on.

While I have a great deal of respect for Mr Cooke, and agree wholeheartedly that there were too many changes for a revision but not enough for a new edition, I don't agree with his points that you quoted.

I think the 3.5 rules for weapon size make a lot more sense. And as for square horses, to have non-square spaces make no sense in a system without facing. They literally had to make that change for the system to make sense (either that or reintroduce facing).


glass.

 

[hong]

3E was Monte's baby (and Jonathan Tweet's, and Skip Williams'). I wouldn't be surprised if there was some degree of not-invented-here syndrome colouring his opinion of 3.5.

 

[glass]

Personally I am fond of killing enemy spellcasters as follows:

Cast Timestop
Move next to enemy
Gate in large unpleasant grapply type monster
Cast Forcecage around you both
Cast Anti Magic Shell
Have monster kill wizard
Collect Loot

Doesn't work. The monster you are gating in is timestopped too, so it can't come through until after the timestop spell ends, by which time the gate has been shut down by the AMF.


glass.

 

[glass]

2) They cover all the bases, but I don't think that the saving throw for a Finger of Death spell ought to be the same as the save for Ghoul Paralysis.

Why? They seem to be about as thematically similar as they can get, IMO.

And weren't they both the same save under previous editions anyway? PPDM?


glass.