>>98178193
because the people who actually WANT to play the game are forced to DM in order for there to be a game at all
they have to recruit normies they know to be (shit) players

autists in meat space are few and far between

Would it be broken for a bard to be able to summon monsters at one level higher starting at level 6? by spending a bardic music to upgrade a summon to the next level, they could eventually go up to summon VII, but not IX. And perhaps to even supplement that, allowing them to spend one bardic music use to summon one additional monster (once) which would let them almost keep up with wizard at higher levels.

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>>98178214
>>98178193
>Me who actually loves DM'ing and sees someone use Forever DM as a pejorative.

>>98178637
Me too anon I enjoy the game less if I am not the DM. I find it hard to be as invested in the game. I am surprised people aren't fighting over who gets to be the DM more often in groups.

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What should the actual challenge rating for the hecatoncheires be?

>>98173270
>>98177379
It wasn't just the dragon magic book, it was also the draconomicon and dragons of eberron.
I'd reccomend reading the books yourself if you want a full list, but here's a blatent example:
There's a feat called "Hidden Strength" both in the 3e 3rd party book and 3.5 eberron Dragons of Eberron" with the same name and effect save a balance tweak.
The moment you notice WOTC unironically plagerizes from 3rd party books, you won't be able to stop noticing how often it happens in Every WOTC supplement.

>>98172585
Incantatrix is a metamagic specialist that eventually gets limited instant metamagic, and cost reduction.

>>98180309
They're one of the few threats I can think of that explicitly are supposed to be able to threaten pantheons. The other one is that being who is stuck in an illusion. Neither of them can even teleport on their own.

>>98184860
Yeah I recall that you can become immune to their attacks by level 40-something as a fighter, even on a crit they won't be able to break through your DR. Never verified that for myself though.

Well.... hmm
>max hecatoncheires sword damage is 64, on a crit with max roll of 2d6+20 ==> 4d6+40
>damage reduction epic feat gives DR 3/-
>you'd need 22 iterations of it to be immune to hecatoncheires attacks
>your number of epic feats as a fighter is equal to ((level-21)/2 + (level-21)/3+2)
>need to be around level 45 for this
A level 45 fighter would able to be immune to a hecatoncheires attacks right out. 12 levels below the supposed "challenge rating."

>>98185319
They've got Power Attack and Greater Magic Weapon, so I wouldn't bank on that. It's a pile of stats monster though, so you look at the stats. +78 or +60 to hit, 74 AC. That's the numbers a level 40-ish fighter can deal with. That's if you're fighting it full on, a Wizard or especially a Sorceror with 9ths can very easily kill this thing and its summoned buddy at level 17/18 with fresh 9ths well before epic if it doesn't run.

Where can I find the most up to date rules on making buildings?
I have a desire to make a autonomous siege tower to transport myself and the party.
Arms and Equipment? Stronghold Builder's Guide? Something else?

>>98185832
SBG has everything

>>98185863
It's true it does, but ugh, it is stupidly complex for no good reason.

>>98185832
The Clockwork Wonders article has the Crawling tower too

>>98186051
It is very autistic in it's obsession over every minute detail, yes.

I'm researching 3.5 Forgotten Realms, and apparently Ed favors the Great Wheel model cosmology over the World Tree. I don't know what to think.

Which one is even standard? I could have sworn the World Tree was canon to 3.5. I'm going senile in my old age.

>>98185462
>That's if you're fighting it full on, a Wizard or especially a Sorceror with 9ths can very easily kill this thing and its summoned buddy at level 17/18 with fresh 9ths well before epic if it doesn't run.
Yeah maybe with metamagic-stacking evocation build? Or spamming SoDs while greater invisible and hoping it gets a nat1? It's immune to a lot of stuff though.

That's actually why I still think evocation magic has a lot of relevance at higher level, because 1200 acid damage can be very helpful where a lot of SoDs fail against immunities or prohibitive saves. Yes I know acid orb is conjuration technically but still. The main difference there is often spell resistance which you can defeat with Assay SR from Spell Compendium.

But again, how are you defeating hecatoncheires at level 18?

>>98178193
QT: I'm a forever DM and I come here to see the perspective of other DMs. Players are less invested in the game than DMs so DMs are more likely to seek out imput.

>>98189194
great wheel is standard, world tree is faerunian

>>98189363
>world tree is faerunian
Goddamnit, I have gotten so much shit twisted in my head over time. This is exact reason I don't engage with other D&D settings, I cannot separate everything in my head. Even just the Forgotten Realms editions have blended together. Thanks.

>>98178615
Summoning is already the most broken mechanic in the game, since you gain action economy and basically have an entire toolbag of all possible solutions when you get to pick literally anything from the list. Any improvement to summoning is broken beyond broken.

I ban summoning, pets, etc. in all my games because it drags the game to have players play more than one character.

>>98189476
Nooo I need my familiar to perform the Help action every single turn to give free advantage on one attack noooo

>>98189476
I made summoning be a concentration spell

>>98189241
Have a Ring of Freedom, Shapechange up, Starmantle up. Win inititative through whatever means you have, Disjunction him to dispel his 100 GMW casts. He can't hurt you without spending a standard action to buff now. Turn into one of the various Beholders. Free action spam him with Finger of Death, Slow, and disintegrate the greatsword or boulder he casts GMW on if he does. If he summons his hecatoncheires buddy, Celerity and reposition to make his summon wink out of existence with the AMF cone, then full time train it on the summon's area from that point on. If Slow lands, not an unreasonable expectation because a Sorc should have somewhere around DC 30 eye rays, he's completely fucked. (Su) abilities ignore his huge SR and he's only immune to death by massive damage, not death effects, so it's only a matter of time before he whiffs a save and dies. Just have to be able to hit a touch AC of 28 reliably, not a herculean task by level 18.

>>98190399
Sounds like that strat would work on 90% of the creatures in the ELH honestly.

>>98190518
There are a shocking amount of monsters similar ideas work on, and even the Atropal eats shit to a well-prepared Cleric, but it's not 90%, the ELH likes its pile of SLA monsters too much.

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>never played Ravenloft in my life
>read about it, it's interesting
>dark lords, powers checks, terror tracks
>autism activates
>sketch out a terror track for a demilich
>would never come up in a game, because who actually plays a lich?
Is anyone interested in the fruits of my 'tism?

>>98190399
I'm wondering if there's anything else the hecatoncheires could do here. To keep freedom of movement ring you would need to put it on after changing shape, right? In which case he could potentially sunder it, then grab you and kill you through nonlethal damage or fall damage. But you could just circumvent this weakness by having freedom of movement from a different source.

>>98190913
Actually, does starmantle even protect from unarmed attacks?

>>98190926
Probably not without a curse or a bit of a reach for natural weapons. Especially for any creature with magic DR, Epic DR, or an alignment type.

>>98190848
Always anon.
Share it.

>>98187832
>>98187832
Just what I wanted, without the fucktardedness.

>>98191793
Alright, this was inspired by the idea of a 'good lich' ending up in Ravenloft, a Baelnorn or something. I figured that would hork the Dark Powers right off. So this is an 8-step terror track of a good lich from Libris Mortis turning into a demilich. Like I said, would never come up in a game.
>gain fire, acid and sonic resistance 20, plus the following SLAs: Create Undead, Create Greater Undead, Enervation, Harm, and Greater Dispel Magic, all at-will
>racial skill bonuses to Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen, Search and Sense Motive increase to +20, gain the following SLAs: Alter Self, Astral Projection, Weird, Summon Monster I-IX and Telekinesis at-will and Greater Planar Ally 2/day, but lose a good lich's immunity to being turned
>Int Cha and Wis all increase by 5, gain a permanent flight speed of 60ft (good), but lose your own ability to turn undead, and gain a strong desire for precious gems
>gain automatic Still Spell on all spells 4th level or below, and an insight bonus to AC equal to half your spellcaster level, but your undead level starts to decay, losing 2 points of Str and Dex
>gain the supernatural ability to Trap The Soul, as per a demilich, and Int Chat and Wis increase by another 5, but the lich develops a disdain for the living, plus a special weakness to Vorpal weapons: they bypasses all damage reduction, plus they immediately destroy Prismatic Walls, Force Falls, Forcecages, and similar spells you cast in a single attack, and they can hit you even if you're incoporeal or ethereal, and you lose your undead immunity to being destroyed when you're decapitated on a 20
>gain damage reduction 15/epic and bludgeoning, and your insight bonus to AC increases to your full spellcaster level, but you develop a compulsive thirst for magical knowledge and your desire for gems becomes an obsession, furthermore you die immediately if your phylactery is ever destroyed

>>98193997
demiliches are so fucking powerful, like damn, a real one is even stronger than this
>gain immunity to all magical and supernatural effects with the following exceptions: Shatter affects you as if you were a crystaline creature, Dispel Evil does 5d6 points of damage, while Holy Smite, Holy Word, Searing Light, Sunbeam and Sunburst affect you normally, gain the Tenacious Magic and Blinding Speed epic feats, but you become dependent on stolen souls to live, needing one a month, and your body withers further, losing 2 more points of Str and Dex and going down a Size, finally you develop a crippling fear of dying
>transformation into a demilich is complete, your entire body besides your head collapses into dust, you gain Automatic Still Spell on all your spells, and a demilich's Phylactery Transference power, letting you 'equip' magic items by placing them near your phylactery, but this does not extend to items that take up the head slot, or any purely defensive magic items like bracers of armor or mantles of spell resistance, and finally you lose all Turning Resistance
You are now a Dark Lord in your own right. The people of your Domain despise and fear the greedy, cowardly, soul-eating monster you've become, a mockery of the 'good' lich you used to be. There is always, somewhere in your Domain, a vorpal weapon, be it a knight's sword, a guard's glaive, or a farmer's sickle. Its destruction just causes a new slashing weapon somewhere else to randomly gain the Vorpal power.

anyone got a list of systems that are like spellcasting but slightly different?

>>98194003
Damn.
The mechanics proper might not show up, but it would make for a pretty good story I think, if the campaign gets to those heights somehow.
Also, the kind of thing you can have as a recurring character and hint at (more like bait) the PCs that they too could become an immortal all powerful "undead force of good".

>>98195196
You mean like infucsions, truenaming, shadow magic, ToB, psionics, and invocations?
Also SLAs and PLAs I guess.
Incarnum is more like magic items and then there's whatever the hell the Binder does.
Do Auras count? Like the Dragon Shaman's and Marshal's.

>>98194003
To be fair you should update magic immunity in ELH monsters and templates to what it is in 3.5, SR=infinite, not magic=no. That never got fixed.

So I'm thinking up my backup for an eberron game and I figure I want to make something based on daelkyr and going all in on symbionts. After doing some minor searching I found the nasty gentleman build which I was hoping to make a progression/fair version of, but then I saw that the build as written was off about a fuckton of things.
Share spell+divine power: you become a full bab fighter but the symbionts remain level 1 and 2 creatures so they get nothing.
It said go druid and then get divine metamagic(is that even possible)
Wizard and Cleric cannot spontaneously cast summon natures ally, so ranger or druid dips are necessary to get the impure prince prereqs.

So I'm trying to just keep it simple
Druid+snake+2 tentacle whips with 2wf and venomfire. Maybe grab energy substitution for things that resist acid.

Am I missing anything? Is there a better way to play this character, is there a better spell to share with the symbionts that they can do on their own turn?

>>98196427
I'd let the AMF-bearing Colossi keep it, personally.

>>98180309
CR100, clearly

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Found this and had to share it.

>>98202690
That's pretty funny.
Dragon magazine will dragon magazine.
Is that a screenshot from the item bible?

>>98202718
I found a 1,600+ page pdf on Reddit that compiled a bunch of things from the Dragon mags. I split it into 300s, and have been searching through it. Is there a better compendium?

"The (mostly) COMPLETE 3.0/3.5 Dragon Magazine Compendium"

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>>98202786
I don't have that one.
Time to go after it.

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>>98194003
ah dang, meant to include this somewhere:
>if the soul-trapping gems in your head are destroyed, you die instantly and permanently, even if your phylactery is intact, unless you keep enough gems near your phylactery for a full replacement set, in which case you regenerate with them incorporated in your form

If spell-storing went up to 4th level, are there any spells in particular that would be a problem?

I houseruled weapon enchant prices to change depending on the weapons size, and enchant damage changes with it.

For instance, a +1 flaming longsword costs 75% as much as it would in core, but the flaming damage is 1d6. A +1 flaming greatsword costs the full price, but the fire damage is 2d4. A +1 flaming shortsword costs 50%, but the damage is 1d4.

I'm thinking of changing spell-storing so that its max spell level depends on weapon size
>tiny (daggers, spiked gauntlets): 1st level
>small (shortsword): 2nd
>medium (longsword): 3rd
>large (greatsword): 4th

My reason to do this is that a +1 spell-storing dagger or spiked gauntlet only costs 2000gp. It would be pretty broken if characters could buy several of these and spam inflict serious wounds with every attack via quick draw or whatever. However, I also want to reward two-handed weapon users with the most damaging attacks.

>>98206784
It's only a single cast so I don't think it'd be the most overpowered, especially since most wielders of large two-handed weapons aren't going to be able to imbue the weapon themselves. I think something like Phantasmal Killer or Baleful Blink could be fun. Sadly I don't think you can put Dimensional Anchor in because that's a ray.

>>98202786
Do you have a link?

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I want my griffin mount to carry my beefy human knight in heavy plate while still having a light load. A belt of giant str +4 or +6 is very pricey; are there any items that increase carrying capacity itself?

>>98212069
Keep in mind that larger size categories innately have higher carrying capacity, so 12 Str at Medium is not the same as 12 Str at Large.

Beyond that, the Belt of the Wide Earth is exactly what you're looking for, it costs 8K and doubles carrying capacity, plus it even lets the user Teleport twice a day, which is honestly a steal at that price, though I could see your DM arguing the Griffin won't be able to use that part of it properly.

>>98212186
yep, that works, thank you
looking at it, you have to use a spell slot of your own for that teleport effect, so thats out
could always take it off the griffon to let someone else use it though; not useless

Man, DMing 3.5 was so much more work than other games. Wizards just made it so difficult to plan around part plans.

How does dragon mating work? Important for campaign or PC might die.

>>98213469
You're going to need to give more context. The draconomicon pg 10-12 goes into it a little, beyond that is lore snippets and furry porn.

"A female dragon can produce eggs beginning at her young adult stage and remains fertile though the very old stage. Males are capable of fertilizing eggs beginning at the young adult stage and remain fertile through the wyrm stage. The eggs are fertilized inside the female’s body and are ready for laying about a quarter of the way through the incubation period, as shown on the table below. The numbers given
on the table are approximate; actual periods can vary by as much as 10 days either way.

Laying Dragon Eggs
Dragon eggs are laid in clutches of two to five as often as once a year. Ovulation begins with mating, and a female dragon can produce eggs much less often, if she wishes, simply by not mating. Mating and egg laying can happen in almost any season of the year."

>>98212486
Our DM just doesn't He throws shit at us and lets us figure things out.
Often times with several complications that makes the encounter more than just "kill that thing".
Also, using our own tricks against us. He's don that.

>>98213469
You mean mechanically or like behaviorally?

>>98213469
Sexiliy

>>98213469
Hooooooooow's the PC gonna die if you don't know how dragons mate?

>>98215599
he's curled up in a dragon's vagina and if the males have dicks instead of doing cloacal docking he'll be crushed to death

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>>98190575
>and even the Atropal eats shit to a well-prepared Cleric, but it's not 90%, the ELH likes its pile of SLA monsters too much.
I feel like you contradicted yourself a bit there.
That said, I am aware of that only 2 of those spells (weird and finger of death) are even gonna do anything to an epic level character. Maybe 3 if it's used as a boss monster and blasphemy can really mess up level 25 characters.

>>98217486
The problem is that all of those SLAs but Greater Dispelling do nothing to any generic Golem form, which is immune to everything on that last except for summons (which, beat their attack bonus with your AC and you win, not hard when shadesteel golems start at 33 AC) and Greater Dispelling. Protect against targeted GD and all it can do is impotently seethe at you while it rolls 50/50s or worse to AoE dispel you, easily protected against by chaff buffs, or runs away which is your real concern.

>>98217230
Well.....

>>98213484
>>98213968
>>98215599
Cultural expectations surrounding the actual act. Druid really stepped in it this time.

Has anyone ever tried a Duskblade/Dragon Disciple? Because it looks like a match made in heaven. DD gets you more spell slots for your higher spells, there's less BAB but huge Strength makes up for it since Arcane Channeling is a standard action, losing out on iterative attacks doesn't really mean much, and gives you bigger, thiccer power attacks. I am not seeing a downside, unless you love the higher level Duskblade abilities.

>>98220259
>DD gets you more spell slots for your higher spells
DD doesn't advance spell-casting in 3.5e IIRC.
The PF version does, I think.
Wasn't the best breakpoint for the Duskblade lvl 11 or something? Full attack Channel Spell, I think.

How do I find a 3.5 group

>>98221173
The usual response is "if I knew I'd be playing with them instead of posting here". Your best bet is either slumming through your online LFG forum of choice hoping whatever discord you join isn't dogshit, or being willing to DM and recruit people. Every so often the idea of a general having a campaign comes up but for a lot of people an IRL playgroup is a lot of the allure.

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I didn't know these were a thing. Skill Tricks are actions you can learn by spending 2 Skill Points. Some of them are really good, like mocking a spellcaster so hard they lose their spell.

https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/skills/skilltricks.html

>>98221173
If only there was a winning formula.
But there are a couple of things that can help, like the other anon said.
Go to places like GitP, myth weavers, rpg crossing, reddit, VTT forums, discord, etc. Be willing to DM, etc. Maybe even take a look at local social media (facebook?) groups and the like.
Tenacity helps too.
The "easiest" way is probably to start your own game on roll 20 and advertise it on the usual places. Short campaigns.
Then keep in touch with the dudes you think were the best players, who might be willing to DM, etc, and make your own little private group.

>>98222268
Yeah, those are sick. A shame there aren't that many.
Our DM rewarded Collector of Stories one to my Cleric and the Bard.

>>98222324
>Our DM rewarded Collector of Stories one to my Cleric and the Bard.
Good DM.