Author Topic: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5  (Read 4481 times)

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archangel.arcanis

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2009, 11:59:37 AM »
I played a Nimblewright once. The DM decided i was wrong when i pointed to the page where it said that a threat for a critical hit isn't an automatic hit unless it is a 20 or it would normally hit. So i decided to make someone who threatened a lot on the monsters with impossible armor class that they like to make.  :devil

Now back on to the topic at hand.
-By about level 12 most everything is immune to some kind of energy and  most are resistant to several.
-By around level 15 or sooner if you actually try. You have something that lets you ignore a creatures immunity to your attack.

These 2 lead to the 3rd grade argument of anything proof armor and anything piercing bullets when playing cops and robbers.

- (DM dependant) Breaking and entering along with murder are perfectly fine as long as you call yourself an adventurer.  This apparently is also quantifiable based on how ugly you are. Party of humans and elves sacking an orc village, adventurers. Party of goblins attacking a human town, raiding party that needs to be stopped and followed back to their homes where you slaughter everything.

- Any book printed by WotC must include at least 1 thing that is so insanely broken that it couldn't have been put in on accident, while most every thing else in the book is such crap that you only bought the book for said item.
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Retire the character before the DM smacks you with the Table as the book will feel totally inadequate now.-Hazren

wotmaniac

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2009, 12:35:06 PM »

Would that count if it's in MM2?  That's a 3.0 book, so it's more believable that they'd allow a larger threat range.  Back then, Keen and Improved Critical would stack, so that's a 12-20 on a rapier right there.

the update/errata adjusted this to 15-20   :(

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RobbyPants

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2009, 12:39:54 PM »

Would that count if it's in MM2?  That's a 3.0 book, so it's more believable that they'd allow a larger threat range.  Back then, Keen and Improved Critical would stack, so that's a 12-20 on a rapier right there.

the update/errata adjusted this to 15-20   :(
That doesn't surprise me.
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Bozwevial

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2009, 05:54:34 PM »
- (DM dependant) Breaking and entering along with murder are perfectly fine as long as you call yourself an adventurer.  This apparently is also quantifiable based on how ugly you are. Party of humans and elves sacking an orc village, adventurers. Party of goblins attacking a human town, raiding party that needs to be stopped and followed back to their homes where you slaughter everything.

In a nutshell, yes. In actuality, an adventuring party slaughtering an entire goblin village would probably provoke the reverse--goblin adventuring parties out to defeat the human menace...but it never seems to work that way in practice. Probably because all goblins are portrayed as evil, sneaky little bastards.

Quote
- Any book printed by WotC must include at least 1 thing that is so insanely broken that it couldn't have been put in on accident, while most every thing else in the book is such crap that you only bought the book for said item.

Not always. There are some books that are generally well-written and balanced with only a few poor decisions (XPH, ToB, etcetera), then there are the books that are kinda meh (Complete Mage, for instance--sure, it's not bad, but there are better things), and then there are the ones that are basically toilet paper with a bit of art (Complete Psionic. 'Nuff said).

archangel.arcanis

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #24 on: December 14, 2009, 06:31:50 PM »
Quote
- Any book printed by WotC must include at least 1 thing that is so insanely broken that it couldn't have been put in on accident, while most every thing else in the book is such crap that you only bought the book for said item.

Not always. There are some books that are generally well-written and balanced with only a few poor decisions (XPH, ToB, etcetera), then there are the books that are kinda meh (Complete Mage, for instance--sure, it's not bad, but there are better things), and then there are the ones that are basically toilet paper with a bit of art (Complete Psionic. 'Nuff said).
It was a bit of an exaggeration on my part. But no rule can be absolute or it would be a natural law.  :lmao
If you notice the the ones that are new systems are the balanced ones. CM was the 2nd arcane devoted book so they were just out of good ideas for the most part (they had a few really good niche PrC's and reserve feats that made it worth while IMO). And Complete Psionic was just them telling to community they can do whatever the hell the want to. Probably a retaliation against everyone who bother to read the rules saying psionics was so much better for a game.
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InnaBinder

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #25 on: December 14, 2009, 06:37:21 PM »

Not always. There are some books that are generally well-written and balanced with only a few poor decisions (XPH, ToB, etcetera), then there are the books that are kinda meh (Complete Mage, for instance--sure, it's not bad, but there are better things), and then there are the ones that are basically toilet paper with a bit of art (Complete Psionic. 'Nuff said).
At least CompPsi gave SOMETHING to a Soulknife for viability.
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PhaedrusXY

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2009, 12:54:49 AM »
Ardents, Linked Power, and Anticipatory Strike all came from CPsi. There are a few gems in there, but most of it is crap, yeah...
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Pteryx

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #27 on: December 22, 2009, 01:46:07 AM »
I should note that many of 3.x's "unwritten rules" actually are written down in various Dragon magazines, especially for about a year before and after 3.0's release and in a handful around 3.5's release.  -- Pteryx

Runestar

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Re: "Unwritten Rules" of 3.5
« Reply #28 on: December 28, 2009, 11:43:23 AM »
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That's easy - Dragon or Outsider HD.

Except that it is virtually impossible to acquire them without also having to suck up a heinous LA. The end result is that you will typically end up behind a player who took mundane class lvs instead.

Going by the trend in savage species, ECL for brute monster PCs seems to follow a rough formula of ECL ~ bab + racial str bonus modifier - size penalty +1. The intent seems to be to ensure that a powerful monster race's to-hit rating never outstrips that of a fighter at any time. In the meanwhile, you are lagging in HD (and consequently hp, saves, skills), with only some NA and slightly improved damage to show. Why even bother playing an ogre or giant PC?  :fo

For some reason, at-will abilities seem to be costed very heavily. Just look at the crippling ECL of 15 the mindflayer gets for the few paltry SLAs it gets. I don't want to know how the ogre mage got its +7LA. The ghaele is arguably a victim of splatbook-creep. I initially felt it was a good deal for its ECL - then the gaming community discovered wands of CLW and mass aid... :(

I think another assumption is that large size should not be made readily available to players. You had spells, but until recently, the ability to actually play a large PC was hard to come by.
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