>>97847877
Honestly i never got the big bad evil guy thing. It was always a series of smaller adventures with different adversaries for me.
My dm for the longest time though was all for it with a rotating cast of 3-4 bbegs fucking everything up left and right

>>97847877
>Do you prefer campaigns to have one BBEG that's the main goal start to finish, or a tapestry of miscreants with their own goals and areas of influence?
Both.
Makes for more complex scenarios when a bunch of villains that may be or not working under the BBGG step on each other toes due to conflicting interests and such.
It's also enables scenarios where one of them raises above the rest and the BBEG comes down to erase the guy from existence. Helps put the fear of god on the players.
That said, my favorite is a sandbox scenarios with movers and shakers and all that shebang.
No actual end in sight, just a world with things happening in it and people and entities with their own plots and machinations.

Can someone tell me what makes psionic warriors bad? They seem to be able to do a lot of things. Are they just not focused enough?

>>97848237
Who says that? Psi warriors are perfectly competent martials with a lot of neat little tricks

>>97848237
At lot of people just find psionics boring and gay in general.

>>97848237
First you have to determine if the person means "bad" in that the class fails to cohere and isn't fun to play or mechanically interesting, or if it's "bad" in that it's worse than a minmaxed caster. It's certainly the latter but that's most classes and most builds, and that doesn't come up often in actual play. As for the former, it's a fighter that trades d10 HD and full BAB for d8, 3/4ths, and a spattering of powers that require your martial to not dump wisdom. That's nothing to write home about but it's also not unplayable, just something you need to like intrinsically as a concept in order to be drawn to the class.

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>>97848237
Psychic warriors are a tier 3 base class,same tier as a Warblade or a Beguiler or Bard. Plenty powerful enough. The person who told you they're bad is just wrong.

>>97848237
They make for fantastic tanks, Damp Power and Empathic Transfer, Hostile alone make it worth it

>>97848237
To my understanding, it's not that they're not focused enough, it's that you need to look over the awkwardly-fragmented options and carefully consider the marginal benefits to not choke on action economy or the PP:ML ratio. Absolutely HORRIBLE floor if you fuck up your expenses.

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Is there a way to makes Bard summoning viable in 3.5? I know they get Summon Monsters I - VI but it feels like it just doesn't keep up even with Augment Summoning.

>>97848532
that's a druid with a guitar.
Well compared to a full caster then obviously they cant really compete but it's sill viable.
I wouldn't call it optimal though.
if you want optimised bard summoning then tough lack because the best and biggest buffs to summoning are gated behind alternative class features so besides your lagging behind in spell progression they will never be akin to wizard summons

>hate my character
>About halfway through the campaign (14 sessions so far)
What do? I think the dm made some stuff specifically for this character later down the road that hes looking forward to running but i just dont enjoy playing this personality/backstory anymore

>>97848563
so it wouldbe fertile ground for homebrew?

>>97848584
Have you talked to the DM about it one on one? Ask if there's a way to swap characters or a way to fix the issues you're having. Also, the personality of the character is something completely in your control, if you need that to change over time you can do so.

>>97848850
NTA, but most definitely for how neatly the Concentration hangup on Bards fits with the extra action economy aspect of summons being a problem. Figure out how much of a gap there is with existing summoning-specialists first, then break that down between Bardic Music bonuses, granting "extra" Summon Monster levels, and just arbitrarily juicing the summons. Possibly further split between ACF-stack and PRC.

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>>97847877
who win 3e versions

>>97848887
Ive talked a little bit and I think he prefers just changing this characters personality. Its also the backstory I have an issue with since I feel like ive played out all I can with it. Id welcome him to kill off my character honestly

>>97849084
I'd suggest talking more. Having a character run headfirst into a brick wall until the player can reroll isn't fun for anyone, and if you're not having fun it's worth solving the problem. Just make sure you find out what the problem actually is. Could be the backstory, could be you're out of ideas, could be other players getting their turn in the spotlight, could be wholly unrelated.

>>97849049
Do you think feats that let a bard specifically summon 1 or 2 extra creatures with his summons if theyre from bard spellcasting would be overpowered? I know better > more when it comes to summoned creatures, but possibly also something that lets him double his inspire courage effects for creatures summoned by him, to buff their stats further?

>>97848887
>>97849084
On our table, if you are sick of a character, you just make a new one after figuring out a way to have the old one not be actively engaging in the party's shenanigans, then this old character becomes an NPC, still doing their things in the background.
Since this game has been going on for so damn long, there are a ton of PCs turned NPCs, some even still traveling with the party.
Then when something big happens, and some of these ex-PCs that are still around get involved, some players get to control them in addition to their own PCs.
Right now we are storming some sacred place that's being corrupted by a black dragon and we have quite a few NPCs in tow, most being ex-PCs, and each player gets to control one, using a simplified version of the character sheet.
It's pretty dope.

>>97848532

Go Sublime Chord

>>97848850
with homebrew you can do anything you want honestly.
>>97849147
I don't find that a bad idea at all. Restrict the summoning lists of bard to getting more critters out there and remove the larger stronger summons and in exchange do something like allowing the use of bardic music to enhance your summon spell by making it 1 spell level higher.
If you want for inspire to work better on your summons just make it a feat that calculates the bonuses as if the bard was 4 levels higher or something the like that

>>97849066
Raistlin but then he'd ruin the world in some way & have to choose not to be evil gor the benefit of everyone, because Raistlin's schtick is being competent & ruthless enough to achieve whatever powerlevel he wants, but cursed to give a shit

>>97849147
Just take dragonfire inspiration or whatever its called

>>97849084
>>97848584
I find this an odd problem so many people have. They think that their characters work backwards. That your backstory is relevant & must remain relevant, or that they cant attain new goals or change their outlook. Its the opposite. Your character is moving forward. Create new goals & become focused on something novel instead of what came before.

People need to learn more from Conan (books) he just shows up, does shit, & moves on. His goal is usually killing a dude, saving someone, or stealing something. Sometimes he's just trying to outrun his own bad choices. His backstory isnt relevant. His personality ranges from angry barbarian upstart who will gut anyone who threatens or insults him on the barest of pretexts, to boastful mercenary getting drunk & fucking women, just looking for more gold so he can get more drunk & fuck more women, to contemplative aging king who regretfully spares the life of traitor because theyre a poet & he doesnt want to see their music die.

Theres a place for backstories that pay off & long stories with a begining middle & end, but sometimes its better to just go with the flow, focus on really caring about short term goals & base materialistic things.

A character avenging their dead master's story ends when his master is avenged. Sure he might pick up new adventures but then they usually have to relate back to that first adventure, a new rival, or a person he slighted now wants their revenge or the person they thought was the villain was just a catspaw, etc. After a while it becomes reductive. You loose the plot. You wonder why this dude just doesnt retire. Meanwhile Conan's story ends when he dies. He can be anywhere doing anything for just about any reason & no one is gonna question it.

>>97849416
>with homebrew you can do anything you want honestly.
True. I was more asking because I didn't want to make redundant homebrew, I should have clarified that intially my bad.
> in exchange do something like allowing the use of bardic music to enhance your summon spell by making it 1 spell level higher.
Do you think that'd be required to make it viable or would simply being able to summon 1 or 2 additional creatures and add +100% to the buffing from inspire courage be enough? Genuine question. I would be open to both options as they both sound really cool. But the important thing is to make the bard be able to use bardic music to make their summoning a viable option.

>>97849722
>>97849247
Both good options. Although a doubled inspire courage bonus might make Dragonfire Inspiration a bit OP (I've already witnessed it become very strong even without such) so perhaps any ability that does so should be phrased as "this ability provides the second half of the bonus and does not count as part of the bonus from Inspire Courage [but somehow stacks with it, so it might have to be a circumstance bonus or something like that that represents interplanar synergistic energy]"

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Bumping with an example of what I'm talking about. Would it be better to replace one of, or both of, these abilities that let you summon an extra creature, with one that lets you summon one from a level higher on the summon monster table, by spending a bardic music use? I feel like one of them letting you do that and the other letting you spend them to summon an additional creature, is cool. I like the downside that they go away if your performance ends, but that might be too much of a downside.

>>97852062
I'm a little leery about that mostly because same as a Divine Metamagic cleric, turning a defining class feature into ammunition tends to have unintended interactions with other items/mechanics and also causes the class to lose identity. The allure of the summoning bard is the army in a can with the bard buffing all the summons, not a worse sorcerer.

>>97849914
i think it would make it more thematically fitting. In lower to mid levels it would be viable.
You spend your first turn summoning a pack of critters and then drop some inspire onto them and the rest of your party.
Both options can work mechanically. Well having better options for creatures to summon is definitely better than the small increase that you would get from the doubling of inspire courage buff at the early levels and at high levels the opposite would be true.

>>97852131
You can already turn bardic music into ammunition for metamagic if that' makes it less bad.
Actually, >>97852062 take a look at metamagic song. There's probably some way to use that to make Bard better at summoning, specially when paired with Sublime Chord.

>>97852062
What level is this PrC available by? Hymn of Unearthy Resilience might be better tied to Bards by making it Inspire Greatness' effect, rather than just temp HP. You could rename Lesser Planar Harmonics into Planar Harmonics, make it increment at level 4 automatically, and have a different feature at 4.

>>97847877
>Do you prefer campaigns to have one BBEG that's the main goal start to finish, or a tapestry of miscreants with their own goals and areas of influence?
I never do a single BBEG unless it's an iconic one like Tiamat or Vecna. I always have a sprawling campaign with lots of situtations, lots of different factions, with their own players/big bads.

>>97852131
>The allure of the summoning bard is the army in a can with the bard buffing all the summons, not a worse sorcerer.
Very good point. That's why I'm thinking of requiring the bardic music effect to still be in effect for the extra creature(s) to stick around.
Do you think it'd be better if the prestige class simply focused on bardic music giving exceptional benefits to monsters summoned by the bard? I don't want it to replace inspire courage benefiting the party, but I also don't want these class features to benefit the party, because I want it to be focused on summoned creatures. Which might seem a bit selfish, but it's jut the class' identity.

>>97853770
>What level is this PrC available by?
5 or 6. Although Inspire Greatness is a good metric to go by. This should be better than that, if it's going to only apply to summoned monsters. I don't like it as a PC feature because it usually causes confusion at the table (but then I play 3.5 with some people who aren't the best with the rules).

>>97852949
>take a look at metamagic song.
It looks strong. I actually did not know that that existed. I guess that could let you summon more monsters with Empower Spell? I do want this to be able to boost it above the normal summon monster limit. Basically:
>make the summoned monsters harder to dispel due to musico-magical interference in the air protecting them
>summon more monsters with bardic spellcasting/music
>summon better monsters with bardic spellcasting/music
>easy-to-track buffs (like temp hp or to-hit bonuses) for summoned monsters (I don't want the nightmare of Augment Summoning where people have to constantly recalculate stats).

>>97856773
>bardic music giving exceptional benefits to monsters summoned by the bard
I think that's the best way to go about it. Even something as simple as giving an extra +1 to inspire courage for summons (and letting it affect the party as normal) would go a long way for reinforcing the intended playstyle. Doubling the effect of songs on summons might be a bit much, something close to that might be nice.

You could also experiment with allowing the bard to cast a summon spell while maintaining bardic music, and/or having the summons last until the end of bardic music even if their duration would normally run out.

>>97856865
>Doubling the effect of songs on summons might be a bit much, something close to that might be nice.
I would agree but I want this prestige class to come close to making the bard almost as good as a cleric or wizard for summoning. Especially since the bard will be giving up some higher level features for it. And summoning IS strong, but just by itself, it's not game breaking (a class that could only cast summon monster spells would be tier 3 in my opinion at best, whereas I believe bard is normally tier 2 as is, but I don't know the tier system well).

>You could also experiment with allowing the bard to cast a summon spell while maintaining bardic music, and/or having the summons last until the end of bardic music even if their duration would normally run out.
That's a nice idea, actually. Making summons go further rather than simply making them stronger. Requires a party to have good tactical timing though.

>>97856773
>That's why I'm thinking of requiring the bardic music effect to still be in effect for the extra creature(s) to stick around.
"Sympathetic" might be a better term, then, especially if it's extra summons of a different level (which could progress from one lower to equal-but-different to one higher); gets used for extra strings on some instruments that resonate to create harmonic tones automatically.

>Even something as simple as giving an extra +1 to inspire courage for summons (and letting it affect the party as normal) would go a long way for reinforcing the intended playstyle.
In some aspects of the numeric analysis, the fact you're getting extra summons to apply the bonus to already creates most of the desired dynamic.

>and/or having the summons last until the end of bardic music even if their duration would normally run out.
Oh that is a good one.

Just found out about the Void subtype in the 3.5 wizard archives. It's really interesting subtype which has the best stealth in the game, completely hidden from all perception except true sight, 50% concealment, & you can activate it/deactivate it as a Free Action. You can straight up Batman in/out of every scene.

>>97858079
>Void Subtype: Void creatures are made of the same empty space that comprises the Void. Normal creatures (that is, creatures without the void subtype) cannot see them unless the void creature makes its presence known, either by an act of will (a free action) or by attacking. A void creature has total concealment (50% miss chance) unless it reveals itself. See invisibility and invisibility purge don't reveal void creatures, but true seeing does. Blindsight and blindsense don't reveal void creatures. Members of the void disciple class can see void creatures. Once it reveals itself, a void creature remains visible until it uses a free action to conceal itself again.
Holy shit.
How do you get this? Some template?

>>97858098
Well Shapechange/Mind Switch/Soul Jar/etc into the Voidwalker or Savage Species Wish Ritual to add the subtype, or convince your DM to make a variant of the Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis that uses the Void subtype instead of the Dark subtype, or convince your DM to make a custom spell that works like Mantle of the Icy Soul, granting the Void Subtype

>>97858079
>>97858098
>>97858221
As in the Warcraft Voidwalker?

>>97858261
No. Oriental Adventures Web Enhancement Dwellers in the Void

https://web.archive.org/web/20190918181127/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20031219a

>>97857212
>"Sympathetic" might be a better term, then
You're right. Yeah my vocabulary has definitely taken a dive in recent years. Used to be an amater musician too.

>In some aspects of the numeric analysis, the fact you're getting extra summons to apply the bonus to already creates most of the desired dynamic.
I hope so. I'll have to compare the CRs / stats of summoned creatures to see how much of a stats boost would be required. But honestly, if it's attack bonus is around 1.5x character level it should be pretty capable of hitting.

In my home game, played through PF1's Beginner Box adventure. Shoved it into our first AP as a means to give the group a bit more exp and loot to account for a slower exp track.
Group got through their first 'dungeon and dragons' adventure - had dungeons, had dragons. Most of them came close to death at one point or another and out of 6 pcs (2 spares) and 2 hirelings + a DM npc to guide them, another one bites the dust.
RIP the best char they rolled - an aasimar, unicorn bloodline, sorcerer with 18 Cha.
He would have been awesome, but he rolled only 2 hp for his first level and one of the kids left him in a straight line with the group's crossbow-man. Both took the Black Fang's (gimped young dragon) breath to the face and the sorceror bit it on the spot with 10 points of damage.
on the other hand, the 5 pcs that survived now have like 12k in loot between them at level 1, so there is that.

I think that module was designed to kill a standard party of 4 because I had to switch up loot and provide a DM pc to give them a chance against the dragon. Without that all, I don't see how 1st level pcs make it through that one. That dragon breathes for 3d6, has attacks with +10/+9/+9 and faces off against the party when they've had 5 CR 1 fights behind them.

>>97862330
>Rolling for the first level
Bruh, the game outright tells you to take max HP for your first level no matter what. By all means, roll after that if you want, but that death was deserved for stupidity.

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>>97858079
There's an odd "half-dead" special quality which is worded like a subtype for Aberrations but appears on exactly one monster (the dolghast from Magic of Eberron).
>Immune to fatigue/exhaustion, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease and death effects
>50% fortification
>Healed by both positive and negative energy effects, but must always make a saving throw against them and on a failed save it takes damage instead.

More goodies from the archives

https://web.archive.org/web/20190819211515/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20041215a

Nydor's Psychic Imprint let's you duplicate people's minds. It specifically duplicate the freeze frame of their personality so a victim of Charm Person will be subsequently charmed. This mind can then be used to create an Intelligent Item. I can just imagine a cool villain who bewitched their victims & creates all sorts of objects

Does a wonderous item that casts a spell 3/day count as a spell completion item or a spell trigger item? Do these count as charges?

Is there a good place to search for groups for this edition?
I want to try and learn this system a bit better, so I'd really enjoy doing some one-off campaigns as I get more accustomed to the rules and playing into that role.
I've played a bit of 5e, and played some CRPGs based on 2e, so I'm not starting from complete zero, but I've got a lot of studying to do first.

>>97863955

Trigger, and uses/day are not charges. A wand is something with charges.

>>97864449
Im just trying n g to figure out a cheap way to get wish. You can use Wand Surge or Power Surge to get free charges on spell trigger items, but you cant make wands of wish, only a staff, which needs you to be 12th level which isnt soon enough for me.

>>97864385
You'd think with this general going back aeons we'd have a LFG system set up but it's mostly a crapshoot. I hear less-than-terrible things about sifting through roll20 groups but at this point 3.5's a bit niche.

Is there a Shadow Plane equivalent to being ethereal?

>>97864385
>https://www.myth-weavers.com/
>https://www.rpgcrossing.com/
>https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?76-Find-a-Game
GitP and minmaxforum too I suppose.
Basically, the grognard centrals.
Also, reddit, random ass discord servers, roll20.
Role Gate I guess?

>>97867756
Why are so many of them during the week?
is the standard Monday to Friday work week that rare these days?
Maybe I really should swap over to morning shift at my job. it pays a dollar less per hour for some reason, but it gets out at 1PM. Of course, I'd also need to go to bed at 8PM to wake up for that shift, but it might be better than my only free time starting at 10 at night.

>>97869545
Most people i know do Tuesday-Saturday or Sunday-Thursday anymore

>>97869545
On weekends people have shit to do with their kids. Easier to find time on a school night.

Is there a guide or anything about getting the most out of fist weapons?

>>97875631
there's probably something buried on the gitp forums but nothing comes explicitly to mind

>>97876249
Thats what I thought. Either minmax or giantitp would have some "fist weapon guide" but google hasnt turned up much.

Anyhow I had the idea (while looking into stacking personalities into a single item) that you can use Crawling Claw/Minor Servitor on a Gauntlet/Ward Cestus & enchant it with Flying & Sizing (my two favorite enchantments) & boom youd have friendly hands with access to Feats & Skills which could help out in a lot of ways. Fly in the palm of their hand. Use one as cover. Use them as tiny spies. Have them deliver buffs & heals to party members. Aid Another. Flanking. Help out around your workshop handing you tools, etc. They could do anything youd ever think to use Mage Hand on & more. You could let them fight as is, or even give them weapons themselves to carry into battle. Imagine a fist flying through the air, charging at you with a lance! Hilarious. Also any number of Three Stooges routines.

I personally would give make them as well made Glassteel or Riverine hands, then cover them with strong reinforced but nice looking white silk gloves enchanted to be Caster Gloves/Gloves of the Master Strategist

>>97847877
How is Pathfinder different to D&D?

>>97876630
Would that work? Minor Servitor needs to be non-magical metal, though I suppose you could enchant the weapon properties afterwards.

>>97878610
Yes you start with non-magical objects, then add the enchantment later. OR use an Effigy Crawling Gauntlet. OR a Crawling Claw. I wish there was more straight forward ways to create custom constructs

>>97869545
>Why are so many of them during the week?
As the other anons said, most adults have other higher priority things to do on the weekends.
I think I only ever played during a weekend with my current group one in the 4 years I've been with these guys.

>>97849846
I blame the autism so many gamers have.

>>97878608
Skills work differently. Base classes are completely different. CMB/CMD are a thing. Stacking bonuses is also different. Polymorph effects are also pretty different.
Philosophically, PF puts more emphasis on class archetypes than on Prestige Classes, I think.
That's off the top of my head.

>>97847877
Hey, is the prestige class compendium incomplete? I cannot find the Soulbow

There are a bunch of spells that deal back damage or have other effects against creatures that 'strike you'.
Based on previous advice here, I've ruled that this requires a creature to actually land a hit on you.
Thinking of changing it to 'land a hit vs your touch AC'
Fire shield would be most obvious of these. Shield of the Dawnflower from pf1 too.
Otherwise they seem too weak to me.
>they last rounds per caster level so they have to be cast mid combat, costing you an action
>they are generally quite expensive in spell level for the damage output
>they are visible and easily avoided, enemies can focus on your allies
>at the same time the damage isn't enough to dissuade beating down a squishy protected by this spell

most importantly they seem wasteful - tanks are already specced and equipped to have high AC and avoid hits. So this spell is aligned against the main purpose of a tank.
non-tanks should not be exposing themselves to attacks, so again a spell that only does anything when you are actually hurt, seems even more useless.

so what's your opinion of homebrew ruling?

ps. this spell category seems mostly designed for the NPC boss to wear when the party tries to gang up on him.
I was also thinking of a change to duration of 1 min / level, but every hit taken strips a full minute

>>97878608
big one that I've only started to appreciate later is streamlined experience gained.
Doesn't matter what your group level is, doesn't matter what the enemy's level or CR is. You always get the same exp, split between them.
3rd edition tried to discourage 'farming' of low level mobs by high level pcs, but imo that was trying to solve a nonexistent problem. Your DM shouldn't be feeding you exp like that.
That solution creates a different problem when you try to run games for solo play or very small groups because you get absolutely fucked for having fewer people in the calculations.

Recently came across this spell in dragon magazine (issue 300)
Corpsebond

>Necromancy [Evil], Level: Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 5, Components: V,S,M,Drug. Casting Time: 1 minute. Target: personal, Duration: 1 hour/level. ST: None, SR: no. This spell transfers flesh and bone from a corpse onto the caster's body, providing a sickly second skin that transfers damage done to her to the corpse. Only the most depraved spellcasters make use of this spell, as it requires the caster to engage in necrophilia. During the casting of the spell, the caster must copulate with a corpse of any size and shape.
>As the spell is cast, strips of tissue and shards of bone peel off the carcass to merge with the caster's body. The caster's skin thickens and develops scales and ridges of horn and bone that become infused with dark purple and brown energies. These vile energies provide excelling protection against negative energy. Against necromancy spells the caster gains a spell resistance of 10 + his caster level. In addition, all physical damage done to the caster while this spell is in effect is equally split between the caster and the bonded corpse. For the purposes of this spell, the corpse has 5 hit points per caster level.
>Damage done directly to the corpse is not transferred to the caster; the corpse takes all such damage. If the corpse is reduced to 0 hit points, made undead, or otherwise desroyed, the spell's effect ends. Inflict wounds spells can repair damage done to the corpse as if it was an undead creature; likewise, healing magic can damage the corpse as if it were an undead creature. Magical healing applied to the caster is not split between the two, but inflict wounds damage is. The distance between the caster and the corpse does not matter, as long as both are on the same plan.

adds a new meaning to a BBEG telling you
>I fucked your mother

>>97881673
Really tempted to use it in campaign for some big encounter.
evil guy can protect himself with it as he heads out to confront the PCs. Back in his lair, minion clerics can keep repairing the corpse with inflict wounds spells when it begins to take damage.
Add an invisible minion fanatic behind him with Shield Other and a cure wounds wand
Add a fire shield on him.
Weak to dispel, but if the PCs don't have that ready, the boss gets x4 hit points.

>players enter dungeon
>Fight once
>Take a total of, like, 5 damage between all of them
>They have two bards with cure light wounds and, like, 12 charges of cure light wounds in a wand
>They already declared they are abandoning the dungeon to "regroup" next session
I'm so done with this one encounter and run away schtick. They've been doing this every single dungeon trip, all the way to level 2-3. I think i'm going to kill them on the way out. just toss the entire dungeon's remaining stock of monsters at them until they die.

fuck this yellow chickenshit party.

>>97882667
Our group would 100% do that, if we could.
Time pressures are a bitch.
>Oh, we could go back and rest, but then X would happen and we would lose Y, and there's probably a bunch of motherfuckers on the way back now etc etc

>>97882710
Bro.
The dungeon had prisoners. They were told to save the prisoners and they left to do stuff in the overworld. The prisoners died, the monsters captured new prisoners. The players learned the monsters were going to use the prisoners to summon some evil thing. The players said "We can't go into the dungeon, we will die!" and they literally watched one of the players hire a bunch of NPCs and go save the prisoners' alone. THEY LITERALLY SAT THERE TO WATCH THIS GUY PLAY SOLO because "the dungeon is too dangerous".

So, the solo player managed to save some of the prisoners, but not stop the ritual. Afterwards, they all decided that they were going to go do stuff around in the overworld. This is while the dungeons is spewing smoke indicating the whatchamacalit's awakening. Their NPC friends asked them to come with them to slay whatever is in the dungeon. "the smoke means that the dungeon is too dangerous" so, they ignored their NPC friend's request to go to the dungeon with them. They went to the overworlkd to get killed by a griffon instead.

The game falls off due to schedules and now we are picking it up again on the request of the players for some reason. I didn't realize they enjoyed playing this game of doing nothing and watching someone else do stuff. In-game weeks after their NPC friends left for the dungeon, it has stopped smoking "it must be safe to go into the dungeon now". THAT MEANS THE BIG KAHUNA IS FULLY AWAKENED. LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE. And that catches up with the previous post. They fought some CR 1/4 monsters and took minimum damage, but they want to leave already. They are abandoning their "friends" and possibly the town next to the dungeon because of 5 damage.

>>97882811
...That is some *pathological* risk aversion, right there. And also horrible attention span. You probably should use more "ordinary" logistical time-pressures to beat in that scratch-damage is not an existential threat.

>>97882811
Holy fuck dude.

>>97882811
Oops, exits closed. At some point the Awakened evil pulled you all into some other plane/demiplane, or whatever feels appropriate

>>97882811
Where did you meet these people? Why can they find a playgroup and I can't? How did they show up for a session without being paralyzed with fear that a pencil or d4 would pierce their flesh and cause a lethal hemorrhage?

>>97882811
don't be shy about anvilicous hints
>Player: my nail broke and I want to go back
>DM: before you make that decision, just letting you know because this is like a DC 5 wisdom check / common understanding that your character would know:
> you just hit what is most likely the outer guard post in this dungeon. For now you have the element of surprise and initiative
>Within a few hours if not sooner someone is sure to check on it, raise the alarm and than whomever is inside is going to mobilize whatever forces they have in the vicinity to track you guys down
>so ooc, that means leaving now, you are in for a pretty tough skill challenge to outpace pursuit and if you fail those, well you are going to be pretty fucked
>maybe someone survives to let the town know kind of fucked
I've had exactly that kind of scenario here >>97862330
when players learned they were in a dragon's lair, they immediately thought to run
I had a DM npc clarify to them:
>the young, recently poisoned, weakened dragon doesn't want anyone to know its set up a lair here. You can either ambush it as it comes home from a hunt, or it will come home, see you killed its goblin minions smell your scent all over this cave and fly to hunt you down. Might mobilize nearby goblin tribes to help it.

in your case, looks like you are talking about some kind of cult summoning demons - easy motivation ploy.
>Soon as they notice anyone's been around them, they are going to scry on who it was, then immediately cast Planar Ally - sacrifice some of the treasure (that might have been yours) to launch CR+3 minor demons after you.
>we know because people who were known to stumble on this cult's lairs before have this tendency to get gored by random demons shortly after
Then if they are still chicken, you can proceed to deadly encounter - only one without any loot rewards.

>>97883486
Thanks for the advice. i'll see about laying out the info in a more obvious way before being rash.

>>97883662
Another way of thinking about it is that it's clear that right now your players think that character death is the only fail state, and don't understand that resources exist to be spent. You'll get spells back. You'll find more potions and scrolls. You'll earn more gold. If the players don't have goals in the world other than not dying, then they won't leverage anything in pursuit of a task. They need skin in the game.

Ring of Enduring Arcana vs Ring of Spell Battle for a buff based Cleric, which would you guys say is the more important buy?
Enduring Arcana seems both more generally useful and is cheaper too.
Also, god damn. There's a bunch of special materials you can make weapons and armors out of.
For example
>Hizagkuur is a pale, silvery gray metal that forever retains a fiery spark of its smelting fires; making it magically resistant to cold. Thus, armor made from hizagkuur grants its wearer cold resistance 2. Any weapon forged of hizagkuur deals +1 point of electricity damage and +1 point of fire damage each time it hits. This effect is cumulative with any other special abilities the weapon may possess Hizagkuur cannot be used in a magic item that uses cold effects, such as a frost or icy burst weapon.

>Hizagkuur weighs the same as steel, and it has a hardness of 10 and 30 hit points per inch of thickness. A hizagkuur weapon is treated as silver for the purpose of defeating damage reduction, but it takes no penalty on its damage roll.

>Market Price Modifier: Armor +2,000 gp; weapon +12,500 gp.
This is not incredibly powerful or anything, but I think it's pretty fucking cool.

>>97884064
The Ring of Spellbattle is far more useful.

You should look up some of the old material compilation threads if you like that stuff by the way. There's heaps of interesting materials that interact in fun ways too. Like Livewood being a target for Awaken. Or Aurorum being a material that's infinitely repairable

Is there any monster hivemind type creatures like Orcwort/wortlings but a lower CR?

I want an adventure about some cursed "thing" spitting out monsters to threaten a town

>>97884064
I would prefer Enduring Arcana if I played a cleric.
Passive all day buffs usually beat 1/day ability in my book.
Ring of Spell Battle is versatile but protects you once and only in 60ft radius.
Enduring Arcana protects you and and your entire party and your summoned monsters all day no matter how far away from they get.

>>97888549
There's various creature swarms at low CR but none of them would have the agency to split off and do their own thing

>>97888549
>>97889773
Some oozes can split. Something that could split then heal the "broodmother" ooze, maybe?
Could even be some sort of trap gone awry.

>>97889773
>>97889839
I don't want a swarm. An 9rcwprt is a tree that grows weird fruit which becomes 9rc-like monsters, who go out & bring back victims to feed the tree. I want something with that sort of set up but more manageable than CR20

>>97890139
How did you type orc as 9rc twice in a sentence where you used "o" correctly multiple other times? Also if you like that concept you can just make a CR 5 version of it pretty easily by making shittier spawn and a weaker tree, seems simple enough.

>>97890221
I have arthritis/degeneration in my hands so sometimes my thumb just moves funny. I'm also mobile posting.

>>97881385
blease respond

>>97881533
I am entirely willing to say land a hit against touch AC.

HOWEVER on the other end offensive magic charging a weapon like ...hexblade? Ordained Champ etc should also go off on touch AC.

>>97893299
>>97881533
And then you'd end up getting into the question of Flaming weapons and the like, should those also hit on touch AC?

>>97881562
That does punish crafting. Unless that's entirely different.

>>97893305
PF doesn't use XP for crafting or spell components. Doesn't use XP loss for Raise Dead etc either.

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Why is dexterity bonus counted into AC? It's non-intuitive, ain't it? Dexterity represents your ability to dodge a blow, why should it come into play once you get hit?

>>97894538
Mechanically, Touch AC is for when mere contact is required, and Dexterity does in fact apply to it. Implicitly, attacks even against "standard" AC who's attack rolls do not pass Touch AC do not make contact with their target. Yes, it's a bit silly of terminology, but the franchise is stuck with it from this bit of mechanics coming out of naval wargaming.

At least it isn't counting down into the negatives anymore.

>>97894538
>once you get hit
AC is a funny abstraction because it can mean a bunch of things, including you managing to avoid a hit completely by dodging (dex score, dodge bonus to AC, divine intervention (sacred bonus to AC?), and even luck (luck bonus to AC).

>>97894882
>Implicitly, attacks even against "standard" AC who's attack rolls do not pass Touch AC do not make contact with their target.
I don't know if that's a rule somewhere, but I like to imagine that the percentage of the different kinds of AC to the total AC describe the chance that a certain kind of interaction happened such as the shield blocking the blow, the attack getting deflected by the magical barrier from your ring, etc.

What's a good unusual creature I can use for a massive horde that's rampaging across the countryside? I'm bored of orcs, goblins, zombies, monstrous humanoids, etc. Preferably something that isn't just a wild animal.

>>97895435
Modrons. They got a bit lost

>>97891647
>prestige class compendium
why don't you just look it up in Complete Psionic or online srds?

>>97895435
use a bunch of wild fey. Fairy realm is having some seriously wild party and as it moves across the First World, it keeps popping small mortals unto the material world.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/baccae/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/quickling/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/redcap/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/satyr/

these can thematically group up together. benefit with fey is that since they invade from the First World / Faerie realm or whatever you local world building has, the horde can be plausibly as massive as needed, yet also plausible arrive in piece-meal as DM needs it.

>>97896101
I did, but having them all in compendiums is handier

I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for still keeping this alive. I've been in and out of playing tabletops for years at a time over the past 3 decades and the only parts of my life I can stand is when I have a group, even with all the arguments. It's been a solid handful of years now since I've played and with life being so shit I find myself constantly wanting a 3.x group.

>>97899511
As the OP for the vast majority of the threads the past several years, believe me that I keep this going out of that same love and desperation. I haven't had any TTRPG campaign last more than 2-3 sessions in a decade, and chatting here about rules and ideas keeps the spark alive. Plus, for 3.5 in particular, I won't delude myself and pretend like the rules interactions and the builds aren't just as much if not more of the system's allure than the actual act of play. It's a fun little puzzlebox.

>>97899572
You're doing God's work, anon. Now it's time for me to spend a week obsessing over finding a group only to end up just considering suicide again

>>97899572
Damn man, props, and hope you find someone soon

>>97895435
I used Kythons once. Treated them as the Zerg/Tyranids.

>>97895435
I'm a fan of displacer beasts but a full stampede of those would be a bit much.

>>97895435
Wyverns.
Have one of them be the
>11-21 HD (Gargantuan)
variant.

>>97899572
I miss puzzlebox game design. I really dont give a shit about balance, give me fiddly bits to mix

>>97895435
Unironically Moonrat conspiracy

>>97901127
With the OSR movement and the general popularity of roguelikes the past decade I'm surprised we haven't seen a system with extremely high lethality but rapid advancement where the emphasis is placed on build variety. Obviously no one can build a breadth of content on par with Wizards+/OGL/Dragon Magazine/20 years of homebrew by themselves, and so they'll always be playing catchup to 3.5, but I feel like there have to at least be a couple freaks who are excited to hear "you rolled an elf with 16 dex and 6 con, here's 200 feats, 300 items, and 400 spells to try and unfuck your situation"

>>97895435
Incursion from the Elemental Plane of Earth
Earth elementals, Xorn, Dune Stalkers, earth-aligned Mephits, Crysmals, Chaggrin, Gulgar, any other earthy/rocky guys you like the look of.

>>97896120
Sounds like some Wild Hunt shenanigans.

Which 3rd party has the best mass combat/faction system?
I have AEG's "Empire", "Mercenaries", and "War".
"Cry Havoc"
"Quintessential Fighter" and the "Strongholds and Dynasties" update.
Pathfinder's "Ultimate Campaign"
I also know of "Fields of Blood", but I don't have it. However, I do have 5e's updates "Kingdoms and Warfare" and "Strongholds and Followers".

Is there a way to play a druid that isn't overbearing for the party, but doesn't become deadweight?
It seems to be a constant judge of 'whelp, can't do this on this day in this situation'.

>>97907157
Yeah, play the way the playtester did that caused it to be so juiced to make up for their incompetence. Treat it like a ranger with some healing magic. Wildshape into basic shit like bears. Make your animal companion be something like a badger instead of having a wolf as a trip/flank factory. The real question of whether or not to truly gimp yourself is whether or not you take natural spell, but that might be a bridge too far.

>>97907181
>Treat it like a ranger with some healing magic
Isn't that the 'deadweight' I referred to lol.
So keep it very basic, lean more towards 'I protect the forests and the fields *sparkling eyes*' hippie nonsense? Support with spells, rather than take the battle to the enemy?

>>97907190
As always it's relative to what your party is doing. If you're slumming with Regdar and Tordek who just walk up and full attack and your casters are a bard and a rogue with points in UMD, yeah you're going to need to pull punches. Not play and build like a moron, but don't go trawling dragon magazine for feats/spells/companions. If they're average competence then it'll typically come out in the wash unless you actively try to minmax, especially if you lean your casting towards support like you said.

One thing that helps/hurts quite a bit is whether your DM has the druid control their animal companion with perfect tactical accuracy and timing, or if it's "go bite the big guy" and you hope for the best. The latter is a pretty big nerf to overall efficacy especially because it limits your ability to have them weave into the backline and fuck up a caster without getting distracted.

>>97907200
Can I give up the animal companion?
I dislike having to micromanage multiple pcs when I'm not the GM.

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>>97907206
There's a few class features and options for that, but combined with your other concerns you might take a look at the PHBII's Shapeshift Druid. No animal companion, no wildshape, but you get at-will transformation into various set forms as a swift action. It's simpler bookkeeping, you don't have to worry about filling out a pokedex of useful animals, and you only play one character.

>>97907213
This... is actually pretty sweet!
Thank you, anon!

>>97907226
Hell yeah. Happy to help.

>>97907157
Take an underpowered prestige class.
Something like Druid/Master of Many Forms/Warshaper
It's still powerful, but just the fact that you are losing out on your spellcasting progression makes them way less bonkers compared to straight Druid.

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Is there a term in the D&D community that is equivalent to a fursona?
I mean how do you call the PC that you feel the most identified with?

>>97909685
A self insert OC?

Is there a list & cost of all the unique magic qualities if you wanted to replicate their items?

Also, besides Collision, what's some of the best enchantments to put on a Many Fanged Dagger?

>>97909853
Manyfang Dagger
This +1 dagger looks like a normal masterwork dagger, but when it hits, three phantom blades briefly whirl into existence around the main blade, stabbing and slicing the same target, then winking into nothingness again. A manyfang dagger thus deals quadruple damage on each successful hit, or quintuple damage on a critical hit.
CL 10th; Moderate evocation;Craft Magic Arms and Armor; major creation; Price: 32,302 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Source: Serpent Kingdoms

Magic Weapon Abilities - Fleshgrinding
When this piercing or slashing melee weapon deals damage to a living creature, the wielder may command the weapon to 'grind' as a free action. At that time, the wielder lets go of the weapon and it continues, magically animated, to grind itself into the foe's flesh. Each round, it deals damage as if the character who had been wielding it had dealt a successful hit with it. The wielder need not concentrate or devote any time or attention to the weapon. The original wielder can grab it at any time as a standard action. The foe (or someone else) can attempt to rid herself of the grinding weapon by making a Strength check (DC 20). if the foe succeeds at the Strength check and has a free hand, she is now holding the fleshgrinding weapon. In any event, the fleshgrinding weapon stops grinding after 5 rounds.
Caster Level: 11th
Requirements: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, animate objects
Price: +2 bonus
Book of Vile Darkness

Magic Weapon Abilities - Marrowcrushing
Every time this weapon deals damage, it also deals I point of Constitution damage.
Caster Level: 5th
Requirements: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, boneblast;
Price: +3 bonus
Book of Vile Darkness

These can make doe a couple thematic ones.

>>97910254
Marrowcrushing looks fun. I wonder if the x4 sounds as different hits or not.

>>97909853
Skimming MIC:
Morphing is a +1 special ability that lets you skip those translation arguments by just turning a made-as-is Specific Magic Weapon into a wide variety of others, letting you apply the 4x damage magic to the 2d8 Fullblade, Sugliin if you can stand TWO feats, or Scissors-Sword if you have six arms and a lot of Strength investment.

Mighty Smiting is a +1 giving you +2 attack and damage on Smite attacks and +1 use/day, with the latter seemingly being per-weapon so you "could" golf-bag +2-equivalents for further x4 Smites.

Hunting is a +1 giving you +4 to your Favored Enemy damage roll bonus.

Eager is a +1 giving +2 to Initiative and damage rolls during surprise and first rounds of combat, helping you with the alpha-strike shenanigans.

Bloodfeeding is a +1 that lets you get 1 "blood point" per hit on a living creature storing up to ten which you can spend up to five of and deny the gain for two extra damage each; on the one hand, this has the classic technically-ambiguous wording of "while wielding" rather than "with" to launder into other damage sources, on the other its "extra" damage may not be a bonus to the damage roll and thus not multiplied by Manyfang Dagger.

>>97910254
Pretty sure Marrowcrushing doesn't work as a rider separated from the hit's damage roll that Manyfang Dagger multiplies, though Fleshgrinding is a GREAT one. Also think there's text tucked away somewhere about "damage" multipliers not working on ability damage.

>>97910383
>I wonder if the x4 sounds as different hits or not.
It's fluffed as duplicating the blade for overlapping hits, but mechanically is still just one.

>>97888549
Have you considered scaling up the Gulthias Tree from the Sunless Citadel? Five or six supplicants, more twig blights, and so on?

>>97910254
Am I retarded or would all this work on a throw hit?

>>97910826
Fleshgrinding specifies melee weapon, but I forget if that means it can only proc on a melee hit

>>97910851
Technically, it doesn't, as the poorly-populated glossary distinguishes that with "melee attacks" that can occur the other way with javelins. Which... Is worth noting for my thoughts of comboing it with Dancing since Fleshgrinding duration covers the cooldown of that.

>>97910826
I don't see why not. Ca dagger is a melee weapon.

Is there any way to keep a weapon in a "hammer space?" I know called weapons exist but I'd like to be able to just summon a weapon out of nowhere.

>>97911411
Glove of Storing is what comes immediately to mind, but you're limited to a 20 lb item you can hold (but not necessarily wield) in one hand. That'll be enough for most weapons.

>>97911431
That just sort of shunts the problem on to the glove. I was hoping to find a way to get a weapon that cannot be detected or stolen, something like a shardblade from the Stormlight Archives.

>>97911790
Soulblade class then.

>>97910426
>Bloodfeeding
Oh man. This would be really cool if it was a fixed cost enhancement instead of a +1.

>>97911411
Soulbound Weapon Psychic Warrior ACF:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161031215557/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a
Buffs the Call Weapon power to be "fully" scalable, often brought up as completely replacing the Soulknife.

Personal Space Nomad Psion ACF:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161031214815/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070314a
Size is a bit annoyingly termed making it troublesome to figure out how big a weapon you can have and the Psionic Focus expense messes with action economy but is very literally a "free"-use pocket-dimension right at 1st level.

>>97912599
It'd wreck the convention of damage being on the exponential track, and while the "standard" is average +3.5/hit Bloodfeeding's ability to defer its +2/hit leads to non-trivial bag-of-rats and +2-golf-bag shenanigans, and since it's triggered only when you deal damage it's fine to wait on low-bonus late-routine attacks.

Is there a repository or archive of 3rd party/hard to find books for 3rd edition? I had a couple different sites that I used to go to find really obscure books or books that people practically forgot about, but it seems like all of those sites have went down in the past year or so.

>>97916099
Sharethread

>>97916099
The mega in the OP should have damn near everything last I checked.

>>97916113
I'll be real with you. I've been on 4chan a very long time, and about 8 years ago they changed how the sharethread works, and it's too sophisticated for my smooth brain. There's a certain degree of abstraction or double-speak lingo that they use to protect their stuff (which is good,) that my brain doesn't understand. :\

>>97916135
That sucks. But even though I have my own occasional problems trying to parse that thread, obfuscation is imperative & gatekeeping is a good thing, so I can't help you further

>>97916235
>obfuscation is imperative & gatekeeping is a good thing
I agree 100%. Just because I'm retarded doesn't mean that other people shouldn't be able to access materials online for free.

>>97917341
I'm so retarded that I don't know what either of you are talking about. I just like 3.5, simple as.

>>97916099
check of any of those sites were saved on the wayback machine

>>97916135
I last used it a couple years ago and it was just a bit of 90s leet speak to obfuscate hosting providers

>>97916099
What are you looking for exactly?

>>97917364
>>97918128

>>97920004
King shit

>>97916099
Spawningpool

I keep hoping to luck out and find a 3.5 book at a half price books. Unfortunately its all 5e

>>97922434
All 40k & game magazines for me

>>97922434
>3.5 book at a half price books
I will NEVER forget... I go into half-priced books all the time because I collect old DVDs and paperback fantasy novels. I always scan the game-books section but very rarely do I find anything that I find worthwhile (Most of the time I just prefer the digital version.)
But this one time I looked and I found this weird-ass book that appeared to be written for 3e. It didn't have any publishing labels or company logos on it... It appeared to be some random GM's campaign setting that he wrote and printed out as a book. It also had tons of hand-drawn art in it to depict the cultures/races/creatures in the setting.
I hid the book at the end of the shelf, behind another book with the intent of coming back the next weekend and purchasing it... But it was gone.

Is there a foolproof way to create a variable or "on/off" Antimagic emanating effect on an item that would not also render the magic of the item inert? i.e. a +5 antimagic aura sword?

>>97923977
Found it.

Antimagic Torc

Only really touched the older editions/OSR, from what I understand 3e is seen by their enthusiasts where DnD starting going wrong, but I'm curious about which version is seen as the least flawed? 3e or 3.5e? From both the viewpoint of the edition's critics and from that of people who like it.
Classes in 3e seems to lack the amount of features they'd get in 3.5 and Pathfinder, but hard for me to gauge if that's a good thing or not.

>>97926074
They're broadly cross-compatible enough that the difference between 3.0 and 3.5 is less than one table's homebrew to another, but 3.5 is a general improvement. Skills are less bloated, several core classes got changes to make them more functional (though Druids in particular got overtuned), and a lot of work was done to standardize spells.

>>97926074
the only real problem people have with 3.5 is builds. Also classes aren't balanced at all at least from a certain level and onwards. With the inclusion of a ton of class features compared to previous editions things got so much easier to break. Also the way feats were implemented was subpar to say the least. This led to the creation of builds, firstly to have effective characters and then it became the meta of the game let's say, at least on the internet and more and more people got influenced that was the way to play the game.

Tldr: you have to have a build for most classes to be able to play the game after a point and even then class discrepancies are real

Finally osr enthusiasts don think that it started going wrong with 3e but with the ever increasing distance from dungeoncrawling that is 1e.

If you wanted you could still have a typical osr style game in 3e btw. The code is still there but it's hidden. Experience and gold tracks are almost the same for early to mid levels, take 10 covers the supposed overcareful style of dungeon delving in 1e, encumbrance rules exists and they function even if no one ever uses them, it has travel rates i am sure it has rules for hiring npcs somewhere in the dmg etc..

Is it wrong i want to start writing for the next campaign even though the current campaign is only a little over half over?

>>97927837
Nothing wrong with laying the foundation, so long as the current campaign doesn't suffer for it.

>>97926727
Anywhere is it listed what the builds/ideal specs are or why they're needed? I assume high level monsters are overstatted, because they sure look that way.

>>97928221
>Anywhere is it listed what the builds/ideal specs are or why they're needed?
Not officially, and the "needs" are a niches-to-fill thing with a lot of options rather than REQUIRING any particular source. For example, Ubercharger dip-stacks are the gold standard of Damage-Per-Round but dissuaded from by serious optimization because that's the sole thing they're contributing, whereas there's a lot of Gish builds that blow past low/no-daily-resource-expense DPR demands for "level appropriate" enemies and bring a bunch of tangential utility alongside.

>I assume high level monsters are overstatted, because they sure look that way.
There's only-partially-explained assumptions about party size and magic items that chew through the at-a-glance advantage between one monster and one player character.

>>97926727
Any build using more than three classes or some kind of template stacking/Mineralized Warrior+ etc or HD buyoff of some weird race is automatically bad in my opinion. If you need a long convoluted list of fractional bonuses & early qualification BS to make your gimmick build, its bad for the table. Sure its interesting & I want to see that kind of stuff made jusr to explore the rules, but its not surviving gameplay.

There are so much simpler & elegant optimizations out there. Two base classes & a prestige class can be explained, some kind of triracial mixed ancestory orc half clay golem hulking hurled with a feat that requires you to squint isnt gonna cut it.

Tried poking around the eberron discord because KB is occasionally there and holy shit what a buncha reprobates.

Got someone bitching about parents being an oppressive class.

>>97930454
wuuuuuuuuuuuuuut

>>97926074
I started playing during 2nd AD&D. I had reservations about starting 3e because new system right after a few years of being balls deep in the edition everyone was playing. 3e was immediately better, and the gold rush of additional content over the years has cemented it as the obvious best version of D&D tabletop in my eyes. 4e was a disaster and made me skeptical of 5e, which was/is okay, but so shallow.

>>97929513
>Any build using more than three classes
>looks at my character
>5 classes
>possibly six in the future
Well, fuck you too.
Jokes aside, I get where you are coming from.
To me, it's less about the actual character makeup and more the why and how of the combination, but it's a decent heuristic, I suppose.

>>97930454
>>97930688
Oh god there's an entire project thread with kiddiefucker Focault as the header by that poster.

Yeah I can tolerate the gay flag topper but someone talking about childrens' lib an hailing Focault certainly seems to indicate the server does indeed know the actual meaning of "Queer" while embracing it.

>>97926074
3.0 is slightly better than 3.5. Mostly because 3.5 didn't actually fix any of the problems people think it fixed, while adding a lot of trap options for new players. people are free to prefer it for build reasons.

>>97930775
Yeah that's enough internet for me today.

>>97930771
Splashing a level of barbarian for flavor is a bit different than Pun-Pun

>>97930771
As I said, seeing a hodgepodge of classes is just a warning flag, it's not an actual indicator of anything bad. Can I ask about your character? You've got me curious.

BTW my character I have right now is a completely broken pure level 14 Artificer. If we start playing again I'm gonna do such broken shit, I've already done a lot but now I've had a chance to refine it.

Right now I'm puzzling out a 100% rules legal & as RAI as possible way to give HD & Feats to upgrade Riverine Gauntlets gilded with Aurorum. Riverine is indestructible except for some spells. To protect it from those spell effecting it directly we can cover it a thin layer of Aurorum which will reseal any damage done to it, it would take a bit of work to scrape the Aurorum off to expose the Riverine. On top of this we give it Flying & Spellblade: Disintegrate. This allows it to be treated as an animated object so it technically has stats, but it's sort of nebulous. I'd prefer to make the gauntlets a sort of golem or homunculus so I can make it do more. It's fine as is, but I want it to be better.

>>97926074
3.0 had a bit better balance between single and two handed weapons because power attack was kinda shit. Also had the intended balance of full attacks because Haste was able to get martials next to their target and full attacking in a round, but the issue is that the way it did it also allowed spellcasters to dump 2 spells a round which was disgustingly broken. 3.5 fixed the second part while breaking the first.

>>97931705
3 spells a round, one quickened spell and 2 regular spells with haste.

And they made a whole as prestige class where the capstone is "You get classic Haste back"

>>97927837
Working seriously on a new creative project always completely drains my interest in the current one. If I have something in my head I will note it down briefly, but try not to dedicate any time to it at all.

>>97927837
It can be helpful if you have an idea you like but know it wouldn't fit in your current project to put an outline of it somewhere else for later. It can get it out of your head and let you focus.

>>97930787
I feel like once you're no longer looking at contemporary system and the lay of the land is a known thing, the lows of trap options are less of a concern than the overall breadth and scale the system offers. Sure no one should be taking Toughness outside of a Wizard with 8 Con doing a one-shot campaign, but it adds texture.

Man, there really aren't many prestige classes for Artificer, are there?

Does everyone else also consider everything Pf1 to be just an expansion to 3.5?

>>97936597
My group does. We play a fusion so intermingled we can no longer remember which rules we use come from which.

>>97936602
What's the most aggressively conflicting systems in there, anyway? It's always seemed pretty seamless to me with everything I look at.

>>97936608
PF changed how a lot of basic combat feats work, like Power Attack. IIRC Grappling is also very different. One continual change you'll have to keep in mind that 3.x had the cap on skills be equal to your character level, plus 3 if it were a class skill, whereas PF has it as just character level with a free +3 bonus if it's a class skill. This means any prestige class from 3.x with a skill point prerequisite usually needs its ranks reduced by 3. Another thing is that PF doesn't really do partial caster level progression; a level in a spellcasting class is a level in a spellcasting class whether it's Ranger or Wizard.

>>97936586
Fuck no. A few eberron ones that are pretty serious downgrades, Legacy Champion which seems superfluous, and maybe a bare few others that you could qualify for and gain anything close to real benefits from. Artificer 12 is solid but it would be nice to see a tight 5 level PrC that would work well

>>97936617
Been a few years since I checked the grappling rules tbf, but the caster progression seems like it could be a big deal if you're using Pf1 as the base system. I've always just used 3.5 to start then added whatever Pf1 added.

>>97936622
I've never played one but had always assumed their Infusions were Arcane spells with the serial numbers filed off for a Psionics-like transparency clause, so you could take any Arcane PrC you could meet the other requirements for. What a letdown.

>>97936633
For sure yeah. My group started as pure 3.x and then gradually grew into PF rules over time. We're probably more PF than 3.x now, but we use a ton of both.

>>97926074
I'm more curious, at the risk of derailing thread, how Pathfinder squares up to either. From my perspective it fixed some issues at the cost of decent art direction and further increasing the feature bloat.

>>97936526
Just mash it together with Improved Toughness, and possibly something else.

>>97936526
This is the correct take.

>>97936602
Which undead do you use?

>>97939278
It's less of a derail and more overly litigated ground that isn't particularly interesting for any side at this point. My personal stance is it's homebrew from people who thought the issue with martial/caster power discrepancies was that casters were ever in a weaker position and thought that giving everything 50% more HP would slow down combat enough for the martials to have something to do.

>>97847877
So I'm going to be playing in a 3.5 game and I want to make a melee asskicker. Party really needs a bruiser guy.

The catch? I want to play a bruiser that's fun and the DM doesn't allow ToB. What are my alternatives?

>>97945650
Level?
Could go with something as simple as barbarian or more complex like a duskblade which actively uses spells while fighting and such.
What is the rest of the party like?

>>97945650
Fighter with the Dungeon Crasher substitution levels from Dungeonscape, who can deal heavy damage to enemies by bull rushing them into objects (they also have effective +10 Strength for the purpose of breaking through barriers).
Optionally the Zhentarim Soldier levels too, so you can use Intimidate as a swift action.

>>97945673
Level 1.

Party so far is a rogue, a wizard, and a ranger(who wants to be a swashbuckler/dervish).

I'd prefer to play something that can do more than just hit things super hard.

>>97945688
Play a dwarf, pick up Races of Stone and trade one of your racial proficiencies for Dwarven Warpike. It's basically a greataxe, a guisarme and a halberd rolled into one.

Head into Dungeoncrasher ( >>97945681) while picking up Power Attack -> Improved Bull Rush -> Shock Trooper (from Complete Warrior)

If you want to tank then instead go for Improved Trip + Combat Reflexes so that you can interrupt the turns of people moving past you.

>>97945688
Duskblade has full BAB and limited spellcasting, so you always have a couple tools under your belt if you really want to.
Also, its gimmick is channeling spells through their weapon to hit an enemy with both at the same time, which I think is pretty cool.
Paladins and Rangers too get Full BAB, a decent HD, and some spellcasting, which save ToB, would be your source of tricks beyond from hitting shit with a piece of steel.
I guess Psionics is also an option.
Granted, you could take a Cleric and have it be the best melee fighter in the party if you wanted, but I'm suggesting classes that are designed for melee and should be at least functional under the assumption the group is not gonna deal with char op.

>>97945650
Get a Ring of Feather Fall. Get two Rod of Ropes & enchant the grapple head with Fleshgrinding & Collision.

Optional! Get a custom Casting Glove x2 so you can have the two Rod of Ropes activate from your palms & leave your hands free for Gnomish Quick Razors. If you dont/cant do this, get Armor Spikes or Boot Blades, etc

Use the Rod of Ropes to constantly grapple around like Spider-Man. Stick them into your opponents & drag them to you or vice versa. Use the Ropes to launch yourself in the air to deal extra damage as you slam down into them.

Optional! Custom Magic Item combine the Rod of Ropes with a Rod of Viscus Globs to have the option to stick enemies (or yourself for more pulling power)

>>97945650
Alternatively.

Get a Tentacle Whip. Get a LOT of Tentacle Whips & attach them all to one another. Find a way to get Girallon's Blessing to gain extra arms. Share the Spell with all of your Tentacle Whips. All the Tentacle Whips grow extra arms. You know have a ton of attacks all at great range. Even better if you wear Energy Drain armor for the level drain effects. And get an Amulet of Natural Attacks or whatever its called.

>>97945703
>>97945707
>>97945681
Okay what does it have for non-combat application?

>>97945772
it has a rogue, wizard, and ranger in its party

>>97945789
I'm the one asking, and I asked for something that's not useless outside of combat.

I wish my DM didn't ban ToB but he doesn't want to deal with it, because I'd like the Warblade's skillpoints at least.

>>97945749
Can't Totemist do that shit with melds?

>>97945808
Totems can get arms, but its not a spell so they cant replicate on the tentacles to get a shit ton of extra attacks

>>97945707
>Granted, you could take a Cleric and have it be the best melee fighter in the party if you wanted, but I'm suggesting classes that are designed for melee and should be at least functional under the assumption the group is not gonna deal with char op.
See I really like the idea of being a knightly fighter type, but I've played that kind of fighter in 3.5 and know how miserable it is outside of hitsticks.

>>97878608
Pathfinder is just D&D 3.5 but with a better baseline, all the 3.5 content that ever existed is still 99.9999% compatible, you at worst need like 30 seconds of porting to make something work perfectly fine.

Flight being immunity to trip is stupid.

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>>97945772
>Okay what does it have for non-combat application?
Duskblade?
Arcane spells and conversely the ability to use things like scrolls.

>>97945888
Well, a War domain Cleric that goes into something like Ordained Champion is pretty knightly.
I'm playing a Cleric/ Knight of the Raven/ Ordained Champion/ Crusader/ Righteous Cohort (from dragonlance) and it's dope as hell between self buffs, team buffs, stuff like Smite, summoning, healing, control spells (Ice Slick!), etc.
I really enjoy playing this guy.
You don't even need to go with DMM persist or whatever since Clerics have ´plenty of really good long lasting buffs, utility spells, etc and you can use your Turn Undead uses for Devotion Feats. Or DMM Quicken. That's really fun too.
My favorite out of combat spell is by far Divine Insight since it lets me burn a spell to be competent at a skill for a single check, which has as many applications as there are skills basically.
Plus, you get to RP as a less stuck up Paladin.

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>>97946765

>>97947077
>As if it didn't maintain its minimum forward speed
But a creature flying with the Fly spell doesn't have a minimum forward speed.

>>97947140
I'd say specific over general,

>>97949104
I agree with the sentiment. But rules-as-metaphor, a guy has magic-powered flight, how do you 'trip', or otherwise physically hinder it in an action, that would disable their flight?

I need some advice for this campaign I am playing which uses 3.5e, I am not very accustomed to the system and the DM is a bit of a figure.
Basically, this is an evil campaign but the DM is pretty much punishing anything evil that the players try to do, every NPC kicking us in the sheen and giving no respect in spite of various setups.
Villains just try to kill us because "we'd just get in the way", good guys try to kill us because we're evil (and somehow can track us down in spite of constant attempt to hide) and really the "evil" we do is pretty much non-existent, though my character was a classic grunt willing to raid villages I did not ever kill a creature that did not attack me first, by virtue of our party never really doing evil things.
Then, my character met with another villain we tried to recruit, tried to negotiate for like two hours, only to be met with "no I kill you now because I want to ahah", was one shot with a +19 to hit and I believe 4d6+21 damage or so.

So, I kind of want to go balls to the wall and just make something that can be campaign altering, ideally a minion build and I've seen that either a cleric or dread necromancer work best with that setup because:
1) A 30+ AC and 40+ HP still got me one shot
2) The DM clearly is hostile to the players
It doesn't have to be an undead minion build but I really just want to feel like I have some agency, that I can have some spells, abilities or archetypes that allow me to shape the world in spite of the DM being so aggressive.
He respects the rules, so if you have something that works he doesn't handwave or remove your powers, so I think if I had a proper build I could have some fun.
>just talk to the DM
>just leave the campaign
I tried to talk but he has a very "I'm right" way of discussing things, which makes it hard.
And... yeah I could just leave the game but I don't have anything better to do, I'd rather at least try to do something interesting.

>>97949787
How broken do you want to go?

>>97949811
As far as it can go frankly.
We're level 9, we can go with other races/setups, one of ours is a Lich kobold and while that seems sweet the level modulation seems pretty restrictive.
Rather than being cucked with "you get destroyed and you get to come back later to get destroyed again" I'd rather get all the levels and hammer down with whatever gimmick/theme.
It can't be Pun Pun though and can't rely on timeskips.

>>97949381
You've flipped them and they've lost their equilibrium.

>>97949826
>>97949787
Forgot to add these details for character creation
Complete series: DMG 1–2, PHB 1–2, MM 1–3, Frostburn, Stormwrack, and Sandstorm; Magic Item Compendium, Spell Compendium, Arms and Equipment Guide, Draconomicon, Races of the Dragon, Libris Mortis, Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, Unearthed Arcana, Savage Species, and Miniatures Handbook. 32-point buy, starting at 8.
He has been allowing some extra stuff here and there I believe but I doubt he would for extreme broken builds

>>97949787
>I don't have anything better to do
I can assure you that you do, that sounds horrendous. I've had that kind of edgelord DM who was petty and fickle because it was the only source of power he had in his life, and I eventually had to just toss that entire friendship in the dumpster. You can't beat the DM at his own game because the social contract between the DM and the players IS the game. If he doesn't want to play ball, because he's the arbiter he wins, and you lose not because your character dies but because you gave him the time of day.

>>97949787
>I tried to talk but he has a very "I'm right" way of discussing things, which makes it hard.
Interesting.
Did you ask him what he would have done were he a player in the game? That can give you a vibe of what kind of game he thinks he is running.
Anyhow, can't wait to see what kind of abomination anons will cook up.

>>97949826
Well the most powerful class in the game is Artificer & they also make the best minion masters in the game.

You can make yourself immune to just about anything using Peristomancy plus you can have clone back ups & stuff. If he lets you use Hide Life youre as good as immortal. You get all 9th level spells by level 7 because Beholdermage & Urpriest exist.

You can create an invulnerable Half Illithid Hydra Effigy wearing Energy Drain Armor which lowers the level of everything it hits. You can make wands of Fel Drain Hail of Stone for the same purpose. If you make a bunch of minions with some decent UMD checks you can just fill a bag with them all prepped to shoot whoever you tell them to. You can make indestructible flying sizing weapons to protect you & smash enemies. You can make a flying sizing voidstone weapon to auto delete anything that fails the Fort save. You can make tons of minions in general, craft a demiplane at level 7, put a dedicated wright in there with planar time traits to craft everything all at once. Use spell items & Power Surge to break wealth & XP costs for everything, shit basically becomes free. You get more options once you can make staves, but even just level 6 spells makes you way more powerful than anything short of perfect level 20 builds & pun pun tricks.

If you want to go undead thats a whole other kettle of fish, but if you want to go broken you go Artificer. Hell, the Omnificer is technically the Punpun killer

>>97949843
Could go for a gimmicky very hard to kill Dragon mag build of Pugilist+Trollblood to convert most damage to nonlethal and take half of that (And heal 2/round one from the erratted Pugilist's nonlethal only fast healing and one from the base regen 1)

You'd not necessarily be all that great at everything else and would suck in daylight...

>>97949941
Oh & you need to be wearing a Retributive Amulet with Starmantle

>>97949827
The obvious argument is they can fly upside-down. Magic flight.

>>97947077
Yeah, not a problem in 3.5. It was referring to dumb as fuck Pathfinder rules.

>>97947077
How does this work with hover?

>>97950073
It only stops their forward movement speed, so if they have hover, they just hover.

>>97950055
Not if their disordered inner ear(or equivalent) has turned them into JJ abrams Deathstar Destroyers.

Is it a good idea to have my players control more than one character at a time? I wanna DM but there's only three of us, and I was thinking of having each of them control two characters

>>97950997
Especially for a new party that can be overwhelming. 3.5 combat is fiddly at the best of times and that's when each character has the dedicated attention of one player. What I'd recommend as a potential alternative is having gestalt characters, so that your party doesn't feel stretched thin trying to have martial tankiness, skills, arcane magic, divine magic, and whatever cool shit they're personally interested in.

>>97950997
Three is a tight group but fully playable. If you want, throw in a DMPC meatshield with little personality just there to spread out the hits & make lucky crits less TPK. OR you can give them all a character & support character that's like a bodyguard or something of low complexity. I would specifically limit them to non casters as a secondary character. Combat takes forever & the more they have to plot out actions, especially with two complex characters, the longer combat gets & the quicker boredom sets in.

I want to play a were tiger in a new campaign, so my DM and I agreed at using the write up from Dragon Magazine 313 on how to make that work leveling wise.

My only fear is that this will end up being quite underpowered for being 9 levels. Is this a good idea, or should I shelve it?

>>97949856
I get what you mean but it's over roll20 late at night.
The alternative would be just watching videos or playing video games and right now I've already completed all the vidya I like and watched pretty much every series that interests me.
This game beats browsing the web mindlessly, maybe not by that much but it does.

>>97949868
I don't think it would be that worth doing, not because I think ill of the DM but every time I discussed anything with him I just don't get him and he just doesn't get me.
He's not all bad he's just very set, it's like trying to converse with an AI that is hard programmed to think of something.

>>97949942
>>97949941
This sounds interesting but I could use an actual build to help me out.
Is Peristomancy a feat for example?

>>97947140
>>97949381
Niggas can't read.
It says 'as if', not that 'they didn't'.
Also, you need to read the 'Fly' skill. You don't play Pathfinder, you just shitpost (poorly) about it.

>>97951483
Dumb euronigger trooning out over a general discussion of rulings and gameplay. Imagine the smell

>>97951354
>Is Peristomancy a feat for example?
I think he's talking making spells last all day or longer, usually using the Persistent Spell Metamagic alongside some gimmick to make it less costly to use (or free) as la DMM, Spelldancer, Incantatrix, probably Artificer crafting shenanigans too.

>>97951354
Persistent Spell Metamagic Feat. Allows a buff (usually) to last all day but bumps a spell up by six spell level slots. But an artificer gets Metamagic Complician, Metamagic Spell Trigger, & best of all Metamagic Item Infusion, allowing you to do something even CoDZillas can't really do & Persist any spell stored in a Wand, Schema, Staff or if your desperate a Scroll. You can avoid depleting wand/staff charges by using Power Surge which you can use a Wand/Schema of Concurrent Infusion>SpellstoringItem>Power Surge & Metamagic Item.

Cost basically disappears when you can use the Cost Reduction Guideto make shit for peanuts & use free spells (power surge) like Wish, Major Creation, Fabricate, etc. With a Demiplane at 7th level, just let your homunculus do all the crafting while you conjure all the materials & gold needed. You don't even really need to play mother may I with reagent/material availability it's there at the wave of a wand.

So now you've got a plethora of wands, staves & Schema to funnel more magic into you than dragon, where do you put it? If you put it in a backpack the DM may force it to be stolen, if you leave it on your Demiplane the DM may force you not be able to go there. The key is Hoard Gullet. Swallow all your buff sticks & with Persist & Extend it can be days in-between needing to buff as well. Dig a hole or Rope Trick for you buff routine if you can find any other safety.

You can also use Wish to gain types/subtypes & templates. Best one I've ever found is Void subtype, It allows you to hide from everything except True Seeing as a free action. Just instantly disappear from all perception unless you attack. But you can also give yourself the construct/living construct type/subtype & give yourself a lot of Immunities & defenses this way.

>>97952186
You can give yourselfnthe Divine Minion Template to get a FAST ACTION Druid's Wildshape (11th level)

With Flying + Sizing you can turn the Dagger in your pocket into a flying colossal animated object with a MASSIVE attack. It's super cheap too. Hell with Infusions you can just grant any weapon those qualities, you don't need to Enchant them forever.

Use Shrink Item on boulders & lava & other stuff to make small cloth swatches you can give to any little flying homunculi you have made (You can give ExpeditiousMessenger a ridiculous fly speed & Flyby Attack with the Improved Homunculus feat too) Have them fly up high & drop it all, using the same command word to unshrink them into deadly falling rocks/lava.

You can make so many magic items, but if you're Persisting buffs, you won't need most of them. Focus on stuff you can get from buffs. Wear Monk buff gear & you can pretend to be a Monk with AC & unarmed strike too. With Heroics you get fighter Feats. So you've got every spell in the game, & you can larp as a fighter, Monk, Wizard, druid, Cleric, etc. There is no class you can't emulate & do better so be careful not to outshine your peers.

Homunculi & Golems are also overpowered as fuck. Shadesteel Golems are the best.

>>97952186
>>97952270
Since no one else will, I will add the caveat that a lot of this stuff is theoretical, and depends on having access to every book and article penned for 3.5, and for the rules interpretations to be understood the way you want for it to work.
As well, this will cause most games to break down, because the other players are not in a position to keep apace and/or the DM is not experienced enough to challenge you as well as the rest of the party.

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I am not affiliated with the game below. I just earnestly find it interesting.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/succubus-publishing/last-arc-tactics-analogue

Free public beta version, available in the page above: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z1hkgs3aak5w9u7ea5r33/LATA-Corebook-Layout-DEMO.pdf?rlkey=nwtkrovtsftrklxewgf6yh1rc&e=1&st=qgklpp6i&dl=0?

Last Arc: Tactics Analogue puts on a JRPG-themed skin, but even a cursory inspection reveals that this is straight-up D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e. It is a d20-based, 20-level game with Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha (slightly renamed), races with a +2/+2/−2 spread, classes with 4/6/8 + Int modifier skills, feats at every even-numbered level (including old friends like Skill Focus, Improved Initiative, Precise Shot, and Combat Casting), a 3×3 alignment grid, the exact same XP table as D&D 3.5, and CR-based monsters.

An unironic, earnest chef's kiss to the people brave enough to put a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e heartbreaker out there. Never once does the game or the crowdfunding campaign mention D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder 1e, so this is more "If you know, you know."

There are some 4e-isms sprinkled here and there. Skills use trainings, not skill points. Attacks go up against Fortitude, Reflex, and Will... and yet, unlike in 4e, Reflex also acts as AC. Characters can use a second wind to regain a quarter of their maximum hit points, but unlike in 4e, there are no healing surges, and it is a minor action.

Character math is vastly different. Initiative is based on a single die, with the die size dependent on class. Feats are not quite what a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e veteran may be used to, even if they have identical names. Spells are original, and use an MP system. Equipment is also radically different. Monsters are simple-ish; they look like they should be quick to run, though they are not quite tactically deep.

I think that this game has enough significant divergences from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e to stand on its own.

What do you think?

>>97952549
I think I clicked out of a video advertising that
Funnily enough, I clicked out of a video shilling that just yesterday when they said spellcasting was MP based.

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>>97952599

As for me, I felt like a sleeper agent awakening as I scrolled through the PDF and realized that, past the superficial JRPG skin, this is a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder 1e heartbreaker.