>>94475236
>which polearm is the best?
Scythes are the coolest weapon by far.

>>94475236
I've always been a big glaive guy, but lance for the mounted charge damage.

>>94475236
>But in all seriousness, which polearm is the best?

It's honestly hard to beat a halberd.

Though I do like Lucerne hammers.

I fucking LOVE the dwarven warpike (Races of Stone), both statswise and fluffwise.

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ENTER

>>94448587
Here's an update nobody asked.
Our DM ambushed us with a group of enemies with something emanating an anti-magic aura among them, so my character spammed his maneuvers with the +12 inspire courage from the bard, but none of his usual buffs or magic item effects, so it balanced out.
As it turns out, our DM knows what he's doing, go figure.
As un-optimal as my maneuver selection was, taking tons of damage then healing half of it with Martial Spirit and Revitalizing Strike after attacking with a Divine Surge for over 60 damage in the first of my character's 3 attacks was pretty dope.
Then again, my guy is pretty gimped. He has 15 strength without buffs.
Pretty sick session.

>But in all seriousness, which polearm is the best?
Lance. It's not even close, it's a strong contended for best weapon ever printed.

>>94476143
>As it turns out, our DM knows what he's doing, go figure.
I don't think this is that much of a surprise. You're playing a level 15 full caster, getting 3 maneuvers a turn isn't exactly TO materials. I'm surprised you have no other initiators in your group, though.

>>94475060
ELH was officially updated, it's not a 3.0 book which we were just left to manually port things from. It's 3.5.
>Monster math patterns are the same everywhere else
Yes, and dragons are subpar beatsticks everywhere in 3.5. It simply is how it is, and has been demonstrated to you more times than you can count (which is, to be fair, not a high bar to clear).

>>94476316
>You're playing a level 15 full caster, getting 3 maneuvers a turn isn't exactly TO materials
Kind of, there's a couple of things to consider:
1) My character is level 14, but he lost 3 caster levels so far. He does have Practiced caster for duration and DCs, at least.
2) His stats aren't the best, even when accounting for his equipment.
3) His spell choices aren't the absolute best either.
4) So far, the DM was basically using meathead beatsticks with the odd incorporeal creature here and there.
When I was first making the character I decided that I'd waste some of his potential with a couple of fun gimmicks that made sense for the character. I knew I could do that and still perform about the same as the rest of the party. My primary worry back then was not making a character that overshadowed the rest of the party, so I decided to trade some power potential away from the get go.
Basically, I'm happy that the DM was able to account for my character's power spike in a way that felt fair and fun.

>>94476316
>I'm surprised you have no other initiators in your group, though.
There's another one, but he doesn't show up much and he's still learning his character. Where my character traded blows with a big brawler and healed himself almost back to full just with maneuvers, the warblade tried a ruby nightmare blade and failed miserably . He really needs to get his concentration higher and know to not try it against enemies with an AC that much higher than his skill level.

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I'm the guy who has been commissioning new art of Seghulerak because she was my last campaign's BBEG, though I rebuilt her as a gish buffbot rather than a summoner.
I'm planning on getting another piece for my birthday but I'm lacking ideas. You lovely gents got ideas?
Pic related: a recent piece

What detection spells could be used to find an enemy hidden in plain sight (with hide in plain sight)?

>>94479898
Glitterdust
>That's not what i asked
It's a -40 to hide they'll fail they'll check anyway
>waaaaaaah
Detect thoughts and hope that they fail the save and the DM considers "Where i am hiding" in their surface thoughts

>>94480459
>Glitterdust
I guess we could carpet bomb our surroundings with that.

>Detect thoughts
Shit. For some reason I had it in my mind that that was a Psionic Power instead of a spell. That works beautifully.
Thanks.

>>94475236
>But in all seriousness, which polearm is the best?
Combinations of polearms if you believe history.
>military fork and bill/guisarme
>halberd and pike
>boarding pike and boarding ax (not a polearm)

>>94478412
That art is waaaaaay too cute.

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>>94482236
Thanks anon. I'd post the rest but some of it breaks Global Rule 15

Say that I buy a Horned Helmet and a Fanged Mask (both from the MiC), can I use those natural weapon attacks as secondary attacks (with the -5 penalty) after the normal armed full attack routine?
For example
>Armed atk 1 at full AB
>Armed atk 2 at -10
>Armed atk 3 at -5
>Helmet natural attack 1 at -5
>Mask natural attack 2 at -5
I think the answer is yes, but I thought I'd run it by you guys.
Are there other pieces of equipment that can add even more natural attacks without having to sacrifice the two handed weapon attacks?

>>94483901
You can use any natural attack that doesn't require limbs that are in active use for manufactured weapons you're using, I'm pretty sure, so it'd look just like that, yes.

>>94486101
That was my understanding too.
-5 AB and 1/2 STR dmg for any natural weapon that's not being used to wield another weapon.
There was also something about being a monk and using elbows and kicks so that you can still attack with your claws or something, although that doesn't apply here.
3.5e is so fiddly sometimes. Fun!

The online SRD isn't a primary source for anything, right?
There's a Parrying weapon property in there that has a fixed cost (originally from the EPH I think) but the MIC has the same property as a +2 bonus, which I assume is the most current version of that property.
8k gp for a + 1 insight bonus to AC and Saving Throws is extremely cheap, so no wonder it got changed.

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>>94486799
Correct
SRD isn't newer than MiC anyway (it's also not a wotc document it's just a collection of OGL material from actual books), MiC has explicitly revised versions of many items including e.g. the infamous BoED amulet

Parrying (EPH) is not a magic item property, anyway. But MIC clearly revises it to be. MIC even has a sidebar explaining that it is the primary source for magic items and if you HAD a version of an item from another book, you can gargle sweaty fat balls because it's the MIC version now.

>>94486902
>e.g. the infamous BoED amulet
Which one is that? The one that sometimes reflects some damage to the enemy?

>>94486902
>MIC even has a sidebar explaining that it is the primary source for magic items
Which is in direct violation of WotC's own primacy rulings, because it puts it into conflict with the DMG. WotC's own take on it was also finalized as "Official Errata is always free", so that sidebars is just pure lies.
Every "Compendium" style book is officially considered a series of optional rules.

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>>94486933
>Which one is that? The one that sometimes reflects some damage to the enemy?
Sure, you could say that

>>94490539
Are you retarded? Primary source rules puts MIC as unambiguously the primary source for magic item rules. It is the most relevant possible primary source, and it claims such itself (and the only rule anywhere inside a book claiming to override other books is in the MIC).
You're trolling (or retarded).

>>94490606
>Sure, you could say that
Holy fuck that's a lot more powerful than what I remembered.
Holy fuck.

>>94490642
Yeah, if I was going to bet on it I think the whole reason it's in MIC is just to remove that version from the game.

>>94486902
Told you people that the MIC priced items on usefulness and not formula.

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>>94493943
Yes.

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>>94493943
>>94493972

>>94490606
>It is the most relevant possible primary source
Except that's not true. The DMG is the primary source for magic items. The official primary source rules are that the DMG, PG, and MM are the core primary sources for Everything.

>>94493943
No, it isn't. It's priced on whatever the editors felt like. There's little to no rhyme or reason to it. All three "late compilations" were trash.

>>94495504
No, they're given as examples.

>>94493943
Nobody has ever had a conversation on that topic in this thread or any prior iteration

Is there ever a case where an item with a continuous spell effect, or 1/day use for 24hrs duration spells, is better than an item equivalent? Like a continuous item with a spell that gives +4 enhancement bonus to Strength instead of a Gauntlet of Oger's Power, an item of "Resistance, Superior" instead of a cloak of resistance +6, etc etc.

>>94497637
I mean there are a billion if you're willing to scum the cl and/or spell level, but also yes, lots.
Shield of Faith CL1 is 4000gp, +2 deflection. Ring of Prot +2 is 8000gp, for a straightforward core example.

>>94497686
Sick.
Any standouts come to mind?
I'm pretty sure our DM will let our crafting guy cleverly "break the rules" so to speak since that's his character's whole deal pretty much, so that could be fun for him.
I want to give some good suggestions to get the ball rolling.
A quick search in a online spell database returned
Beastland Ferocity as a decent candidate.
A first level spell BArd and Druid (so CL1) that's 1min/lvl and gives a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and the effect of the Endurance feat.
Whereas a Belt of Giant Strength would cost 16k gp, a continuous or use activated item of that spell would cost
>1*1*2000*2=4000gp
if I didn't fuck the formula up.

>>94497747
Actually, scratch that, I misread the spell. The bonus is only in place WHILE between -1 and -9.
Still, the question remains.

>>94497747
The Primal spells (Hunter, instinct, senses and speed) are cool. 24 hours buffs, if you have two active at the same time you get uncanny dodge and with 4 you get the improved version, but honestly hunter and instinct are the best options
Hunter just gives you a +5 competence on movement skills, but it's only 2nd level (1st for rangers), so it's not that bad, and instinct gives you +5 competence to survival and INITIATIVE (3rd lvl spell for druid/sorc and 2nd for ranger)
the whole line also has some neat bonuses if you're dragonblood but come on

>>94497632
Objectively wrong.

>>94497551
I can see both, very easily. Problem's you.

>>94497747
Are you scumming spell levels a la StP erudite/art?
You can do things like cast level 1 bull's strength off prestige class lists to get it cheaper than +4 gauntlets.
>Beastland Ferocity
If your DM is letting you have this as a continuous effect your campaign probably has bigger concerns and you should consider what sorts of lines you don't want to cross.

>>94498021
Objectively correct, actually
That conversation has only ever been had about dmg items, which follow the formula

>>94497569
Wrong. The final say of the DMG/PG/MM supremacy was given after the backlash for the "Rules Compendium's" complete retardation. WotC's own official stance was that every "compendium" was a collection of optional rules after that.

>>94498078
That's not what the errata says

>>94498082
That's what WotC said.

>>94498066
>Are you scumming spell levels a la StP erudite/art?
Pretty much. The guy has some way to emulate any spell when crafting magic items.

>You can do things like cast level 1 bull's strength off prestige class lists to get it cheaper than +4 gauntlets.
That's the kind of thing that I'm looking for.
Guess I should narrow my search to prestige class spell lists then.

>>94498066
>>94500094
Trapsmith is the go-to class for that sort of thing, I believe.

There's a feat in the Eberron Campaign Setting book called Extra Rings that lets you wear two more rings.
Is that as powerful as it sounds or is there some thing I'm not taking into account?
A shame that it has Forge Ring as a prerequisite.

>>94500094
>Pretty much.
>That's the kind of thing that I'm looking for.
This list unfortunately includes spells that are at the normal level as well, but you can regex through it with an editor like vim to remove the lines with sor/wiz etc. to narrow it down to only reduced levels. In any case it's a useful list.
https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=je8k3mu1dua2184327llcg6o7k&topic=15276.msg273095#msg273095

>>94500836
>Is that as powerful as it sounds or is there some thing I'm not taking into account?
Yes/Yes? You have unlimited possible items anyway, it just costs double to make an item slotless or however much extra it was to add an effect onto an existing slotted item (per crafting rules). If you're playing with only found treasure and no magic mart, it's quite a strong feat just because of how many useful and strong rings there are printed in the books and appearing in loot tables. If you're picking and choosing your magic items, it's not that big a deal.

>>94500883
>or however much extra it was to add an effect onto an existing slotted item
+50% to cost. Also to note, it's like 20,000-to-40,000 gp to add a feat to an item, so a ring of feat: extra rings is also possible.

>>94502329
I thought it was cheaper than that? Dark blue Rhomboid is a slotless 10k gp feat,
MIC also has a feat (which has prereqs) as a +1 bonus on armor, and a unique ~10k armor, and a 5k shield crystal, weapon properties, 8k gloves, etc.
I know it got explicitly priced in a terrible old never-converted 3.0 book and that was even cheaper, but I'm deliberately ignoring that.
Somehow I'd never heard of Riding Boots, holy shit dude

>>94502329
>>94502393
Are there actual rules for putting feats on items?
The only thing I'm aware of is a sidebar in the 30 Arms and Equipment Guide, if memory serves.

>>94502419
>I know it got explicitly priced in a terrible old never-converted 3.0 book and that was even cheaper
>The only thing I'm aware of is a sidebar in the 30 Arms and Equipment Guide, if memory serves.
That's the one, I forgot it was actually pretty cheap for low-prerequisite feats. It's still fair-game to use in 3.5 too.

>>94502449
>It's still fair-game to use in 3.5 too.
Eh, it's non-converted 3.0. Even if you use the book, I don't buy the idea that the similar section in the 3.5 DMG doesn't supersede it.

>>94502473
Which section?

>>94502501
Creating magic items

>>94502537
What in that section supercedes the "Magic Items
that Grant Feats" sidebar in a book that is itself a supplement to the 3.0 DMGs "creating magic items" section?
That's like saying the DMG overwrites Savage Species.

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>>94502329
>>94502393
>>94502419
>>94502449
>Magic Items that Grant Feats
>Pricing feats for magic items is a very fuzzy area.
>If a feat is purely mechanical, such as Great Fortitude, default to the rules in the DUNGEON MASTER’S Guide with an adjustment for the fact that the bonus has no type.
>For instance, the belt of endurance grants Great Fortitude, which adds a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saves.
>A +2 resistance bonus on all saves would cost 4,000 gp.
>It shouldn’t be more or as economical to buy bonuses to all saves separately, so a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves alone should cost 2,000 gp.
>If the bonus has no type as signed to it, you could double or even triple that.
>Metamagic feats should adjust the level of the spells to which they apply, and thus change the price.
>While this is still a matter of judgment, consider increasing all the spell levels by +1 if the item affects spells of 0–3rd level, by +2 if the item affects spells of 0–6th level, and by +4 if the item affects spells of any level.
>A general guideline for other kinds of feats is that they cost 10,000 gp, plus an other 5,000 gp to 10,000 gp per prerequisite
What the fuck that's way too cheap for some feats.
Granted, the text itself admits that ti's a fuzzy guideline.

>>94503014
>What in that section
All of it?
>That's like saying the DMG overwrites Savage Species.
Wasn't SS officially updated for 3.5, like e.g. fiend folio or BoVD?

>>94503112
>Wasn't SS officially updated for 3.5, like e.g. fiend folio or BoVD?
No

>>94503104
DMs are given the explicit advice by the DMG to adjust prices for custom items that are more useful than price.
Can't say a hard No to items without a rule zero ban though.

>>94503480
Then yes, SS is strict 3.0 material and should not generally be assumed to exist

>>94503506
>strict 3.0 material and should not generally be assumed to exist
3.0 material is explicitly free-game in 3.5 The only thing stopping it is DM intervention.

>>94475236
>which polearm is the best?
Halberd. No reach, but it's the highest damage piercing weapon in the base game, and is slashing as well. Gets double damage vs charges and you can trip with it two-handed.

Weird question, does anybody know any way of cheesing... sheathing a weapon? I want to do iaijutsu focus nonsense, and I swear I've scoured my options and I can't find anything else than using the gnomish quickrazor (lame, non-thematic) or just carrying a brace of swords on my and dropping my weapons. Is there really no fucking way of sheathing a weapon as a swift or free action?

>>94506152
You know the weapon you draw doesn't have to be the one you attack with for IA, right?

>>94506237
Fuck, that's silly.

>>94506152
If you squint enough, sheathing a weapon could be argued to be a form of hiding it, right?
If that's the case, give the Sleight of Skill a read,
You can take a large penalty to try and "hide an item" (sheathe a weapon?) as a free action, and even if you fail the check, you still perform the action.

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>World building
Spell: Distilled joy
>The Celestial Hebdomad, the rulers of the Seven Heavens, subsist entirely on ambrosia.
...
>Ambrosia can only be drawn from a blissful creature; how the creature achieves this state of bliss can vary from one individual to the next.
>For example, distilled joy can be cast on a deliriously lovestruck character, a dryad dreaming near her tree, an artist crafting his life’s masterpiece, or a character experiencing a moment of rapture
> or undiluted sexual pleasure.
but wait...
>Components: V, S, F
>Casting Time: 1 day... 1 DAY

there are celestial servants whose job it is to sneak up on people having sex and collect their 'joy' so that a bunch of powerful archons can eat it. That would be the only semi-predictable and stable way to get ambrosia.
Imagine that job - spend a whole day to cast a 3rd level spell. Have to hold the charge of the touch spell. Find some couple, ruin someone's orgasm by molesting him or her at just the right moment make off with your vial.
And the benefits
> experiences a soothing sensation that wipes away minor aches and pains, takes the edge off grief and sadness AND
> cures 1 point of damage.
>OR
>Each dose provides the equivalent of 2 experience points needed to create the item
Or of course, you can feed it to an archon

Also consider dryads - these must be the happiest creatures in the universe. Simply sleeping near her tree is the same bliss as a man crafting his life's masterpiece.

>>94475236
Of all the starting classes, would rolling a ranger be the closest thing to a cowboy?

>>94506933
Hmm, definitely more requires GM permission for something like that, but it would be my preferred solution out of the options so far.

>>94506152
It's worth noting that you don't have to draw a weapon for every attack. Iaijutsu focus applies if you drew a weapon this turn, not for this single attack.

>>94508102
I don't know if that's already a thing but if you want it to feel less cheesy, you can always work out with your DM that you have to succeed a slight of hand check without the -20 penalty to sheath the weapon as a free action.

>>94506152
You don't have to carry around only one weapon, you know

>>94508076
Definitely

>>94511112
The infamous bag of katana.

In the scale of
>I'll take one class from one to 20
to
>I'll dip one level of each class and prestige class
Do you or your players sit?
Save for one guy that'll dip 3 or 4 classes for the tricks gimmicks or PRC requirements, most of my table are the type to maybe take one dip and one prestige class in addition to their base class.
I wonder how this attitude changed from early in the life of the system to now.
Me? I'll take two or three PRCs and maybe a one to 3 lvl dip in another base class if I feel that it's thematic.
And cool.

>>94511960
I did Barbarian/Fighter a lot.

>>94511960
Dipping whenever we can.

>>94511826
An efficient quiver can store up to twenty-four katanas, so really, who's stopping you

>>94511960
Personally i'd rather stick to a single class for progression but doing that's not feasible in 3.5, so i take a few dips whenever i get to midgame to make up for the ramping difficulty

>>94511960
I think there are very few builds that are both attractive and use only two classes. Taking too few classes is basically the same as wasting levels; it's grossly inefficient.

>>94514425
>I'm going through all the official base classes made for D&D 3E including from the Dragonlance books as well as from the Dragon Compendium in order to make sure they are each enjoyable to play on their own, including changing a bunch of the core rules, and blah blah blah.
So standard heartbreaker development cycle.

>Shadow casting is all about dealing with the reflection of what we see, and understanding that the reflection is as much the real thing as the thing making the reflection. Is there a mechanic I can add to the Shadowcaster that can better reflect that (pun intended)? Or am I just full of shit?
You're a bit off the mark as shadows represent only a profile of a thing rather than a full image as a reflection does. The Plane of Shadow that Shadowcasters draw on routinely sees mechanics rely on the incompleteness of the image, with the relatively exotic case of Shadow Walk ignoring intervening terrain and quite spectacularly compressing the travel distance on this basis.

I'll give a MinMax plug for somebody else's take:
>https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=16545.0
Uses a simultaneous-effect limit rather than periodic use limits and much more routinely refers to the "reality percentage" of Shadow Illusion spells for efficacy, aiming for a near-constant "pull" on the surrounding world instead of terribly scarce spell-equivalents.

>Anyways, I'll keep on remaking the Truenamer from the ground up in the meanwhile.
If you're still having Truespeak as a skill, using check result as a scaling factor causes penalties to act differently from DC increases. Also don't forget skill tricks since those are a fairly natural way to rate-limit and rank-gate without eating valuable feat slots.

What's a class you never played because it's too weak or niche? I always wanted to do an ashworm dragoon but it just never happened.

>>94515647
Soulknife. My list of not-even-begun shitbrew includes a revamp around the 3.0 PRC version's PP reserve requirements to fuck around with at-will Force effects.

>>94475236
has any good NEW 3.5 monster manual been published lately?

I'm listening to this year old podcast while working, and a dude mentioned that the marketing for 4th edition said that it would be compatible with 3.5e?
Any old heads around to confirm or deny having seen these ads/commercial back in the day? That sounds wild.

>>94514955

Thank you for your reply! I have nothing further to add.

A Caster's Shield can store up to four 3rd level spells as scrolls scribed at 50% material cost. The +1 Light Shield base is 1,153 GP, the price of this specific shield is 3,153, so the unique function is valued at 2,000 GP, costing 1,000 GP to create. The material cost of scribing a 3rd-level scroll is 187.5, so half of that is 93.75. Thus it requires it be used 11 times to have "made back" its cost to create, minus XP value.

Is there any other item like this to assist in establishing a benchmark for attempting a broader use Special Quality implementation of such a thing scaling with Enhancement bonus?

>>94515727
I love soulknife but yeah it's complete ass

>>94516016
I heard the 5e was advertised as supposed to be backwards compatible with every edition, but that apparently got ditched fast. Never heard that about 4e when it was getting made.

>>94516016
I wasn't deeply in the scene but I was a decently enfranchised 3.5 player when 4e came out and never heard anything to that effect.

>>94518408
Now THAT's funny.

>>94518449
Yeah, I thought it weird. Surely something like that would be brought up in conversations and such, yet I'd never heard of that before.
I suppose it could be a rare advert. Something they ran for a short period of time and got very little exposure.

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>>94517208

>>94517208
You could probably graft the whole class on Psychic Warrior and it still would be just Tier 3. Also would work way better.

>>94517208
That's because at least half of Soulknife can be replaced by buying a magic weapon. It's probably mediocre in the downright bizarre scenario of playing a game without magic items!

>>94517208
I once played a soul knife with a notoriously stingy GM, figuring that maybe this would actually be its place to shine since its main class feature is basically having an okayish magic weapon.
It was still bad.

>>94520768
I swear I didn't even see this post while I was writing mine. (>>94520779)

>>94518408
I remember the promise being that it would have a slim BX type core with modular extensions to make it play like the other editions. Which was of course, dropped, but doesn't necessarily mean compatibility.

>>94520764
Lurk would probably be the better pick, as merging Psychic Strike and Lurk Augments could handily answer several of its own problems.

>>94517208
Weren't Soul-arrows good? I thought those were very good?

>>94522861
Soulbow was a prestige class, but it was basically the only way to make a soulknife effective. Notably, it was actually two different prestige classes, so taking both of them was a good strategy to get your numbers ahead of the curve instead of lagging behind.