Thread 96245441

For discussion of D&D 3.0 and 3.5e

> Tools
https://srd.dndtools.org
https://dndtools.one/
https://d20srd.org
https://www.realmshelps.net/

> Indices
> 3.5
https://archive.burne99.com/archive/4/
http://web.archive.org/web/20080617022745/http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php
> 3.0
http://web.archive.org/web/20060330114049/http://www.crystalkeep.com:80/d20/rules3.0.php
> Book PDFs
https://mega.nz/folder/GMMUDLCK#1IXzJk1_yxlgNmPABGjcyw
> Dragon Magazine Index
https://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/
> Web Articles Orbital Flower Index PDF
https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/91811106/#91824954
> Errata
https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205827/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/errata

>3e Resource Index Version 2024-04-17
https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92491374/#92530275
Previous thread: >>96017587
Thread Question: How do you handle the death of a PC? Do you prefer for the dice to fall how they may, or is a bit of narrative sculpting for dramatic effect or ease of play better?

>>96245441 (OP)
Our DM seems to be pretty averse.
Not only do you just die at - half total HP, he was also asking us what we thought about adopting a mechanic from some other game where the PCs can just declare "we lost, we bailin'" and just automatically flee a bad situation with dire narrative consequences.
Which, yeah, makes sense from the standpoint of somebody deeply invested in the narrative of the whole in game world I guess.
We didn't adopt that specific rule as of now.

>>96245441 (OP)
It never really happens permanently. We never play anything below level 6-7 and the revolving door is real. Characters die, they get resurrected and we move on. I can't remember the last time someone had a permanent death that wasnt like the end of a campaign against a BBEG with the ability to cause permadeath.
It was frankly the most refreshing thing ever playing non dnd fantasy games (gurps fantasy and mythras) and characters could actually die

>>96245441 (OP)
We never had a PC die on my table. Most of us usually play either very paranoid or very aware PCs so deadly situations are mostly avoided but there is a lot of backstabbing.

>>96247467
>against a BBEG with the ability to cause permadeath.
That's the shit right there.
Your soul? Gone.
We are at a moment in the setting's history where planar and resurrection magic, and magic in general to a certain extent, is acting kind of funky.
Most resurrections fail and when one PC died (mine), he went through some shit during the resurrection process, so that's definitely something you can fuck around in the narrative and with homebrew to great effect.

>>96247511
>Most of us usually play either very paranoid
Yeah. I think that's why our DM thought about implementing >>96247372. Sometimes we play like little bitches. Which makes sense for our characters. We have shit to do and there's no point in getting into situations at a disadvantage most of the time.

One thing I really love about 3e is that you can narrow down its splat selection to create very focused D&D experiences that would be hard to do in other edition. I enjoyed the secret society implications of various prestige classes which instantly flavor your setting. This is a lot easier to say now that probably nothing else would be published for it than the d20 boom days tbf.

>>96247724
I mean dnd lends itself to this kind of campaign. Martials cant cause you permadeath, only casters and those tend to be what our forever dm prefers as archenemies, whether it is clerics or wizards or more specifically an organization of them.
I like sandbox stuff a lot and some of my friends do as well (up to a point) but i wouldnt run a hexcrawl in 3.5. I tried and it was a colossal failure

>>96247372
That's always the tradeoff, whether death is a mechanical penalty or a story penalty and it has to be sculpted around what players give a shit about or else it's just a hassle. I've always trended more of the camp of giving a shit about a character because they've managed to survive the meat grinder rather than plotting out at level 1 their grand ambitions and place in the world knowing they'll get there eventually. It's not a book, y'know?

>>96247724
>Yeah. I think that's why our DM thought about implementing >>96247372
I think that is wrong. I think people should be less attached to their characters and let them make mistakes and if they die, they die. It's a more immersive experience and it gives you a reason to rotate, try out new character with different mechanics.

If someone is under the effect of Holy Aura (an abjuration that, among other things, forces those who strike the creature to make a fortitude save or be blinded) is the blinding effect subject to the spell resistance of the striking creature?

>>96253181
The advent of session 0 and non-rolled characters has caused players to forget that the early sessions ARE the backstory, and at level 1 you're nobody of importance.
>>96255682
It's easy to try out new characters when you don't have to deal with either forcing the character into an important role in the plot, or making sure that you will have a good "build" 10 levels later

>>96262496
Lol at the terrible drawing of Tom Hanks

I've been invited to play an adventure in 3.5 and this is my first time playing. We start at level 5 and I've picked the spellthief, what are some good magic items (the maximum price for a single item has to be 4,500 gp and we have a budget of 9000)? I've picked: Magebane Dagger, Deadly Precision Dagger, Acrobat Boots (since I'm a small race with only 20 feet movement), Nimbleness Studded Leather, Cloak of Resistance and a Hand of the mage

>>96265632
Have you played other TTRPGs before?
Also, what other classes are in the party?

>>96269200
>Have you played other TTRPGs before?
Yes, mainly 5e but also a bit of Pathfinder 2e, OSE, Mork Borg and some others
>Also, what other classes are in the party?
A paladin and a Wu Jen

>>96269769
Odd mix of classes, that's for sure. Is this a module that's heavily slanted towards casters?

Deadly Precision is a trap, a flat +2 enhancement bonus is going to get you infinitely more mileage. Acrobat boots are whatever. Nimbleness doesn't really matter, you'd be better off with +1 leather armor. The rest is fine.

General use -
Max out your ranks in Use Magic Device
Box of chalk (mark corridors in mazes, make dust to see invisible enemies, throw it to make noise; the uses are endless)
Rope, masterwork thieves' tools, spell components, etc. Maybe a grappling hook if you're fancy.
There's lots of one-off items like caltrops and smokesticks that can be very annoying if used in clever ways, which I recommend mainly because anyone getting a Hand of the Mage is up to some horseshit.
You'll probably want a basic ranged weapon just as a backup.


Magic Items -
Wand of Cure Light Wounds
Boots of Striding and Springing will probably be better than Acrobat Boots
Bracers of Armor and/or amulet of natural armor are fairly useful, same with basics like gloves of dexterity
Bag of Holding
There's some more elaborate minmax/cool shit but honestly just going down the DMG item list and filling out your general utility slots will do you better than trying to figure out how to afford Bracers of Murder.

>>96269872
The adventure is set in the Underdark where we have to escape from a drow prison, so my spellthieving should trigger against them.

I'm a sucker for mundane items so I have bought as many as my carrying capacity allowed me to take, didn't read about the smokesticks though so I'll definitely buy them. Thanks for the tips anon

>>96269936
I do have a fondness for an Underdark jailbreak. That's where my last campaign ended.

>>96247724
>>96247372
do you even need such rules?

i remember calling for retreat as the party frontliner and it was a butt puckering moment for everyone.

>>96269872
>>96265632
ask your DM if you can use the MiC basic improvements system, it let you add staples (resistance, stat boost..) to other more interesting items without the penalty to make things more interesting.

>>96277367
>MiC basic improvements system
I recall hearing about that but don't remember the details, do you have a writeup?

>>96279465
NTA, but the text seems to fit in one post:

One of the most frustrating roadblocks to using interesting, unusual magic items is that they take up body slots that you need for an ability-boosting item (such as gauntlets of ogre power), a ring of protection, or another must-have item. To address this issue, Magic Item Compendium presents offi cial rules for adding common item effects to existing magic items.

Table 6–11: Adding/Improving Common Item Effects presents a list of common item effects, from ability score enhancement bonuses to energy resistance, and the price to add that effect to an item.

The table also indicates the appropriate body slot (or slots) for each effect. For example, you can add an enhancement bonus to Charisma only to an item that occupies the head or shoulders body slot (such as a headband or cloak). A DM can choose to deviate from this guideline, but should avoid nonsensical combinations (such as gloves that provide a bonus to Wisdom).

Adding one of these effects to an existing item works much like creating an item from scratch. The crafting character must meet the given prerequisites, must expend gold equal to one-half the price and XP equal to 1/25 the price, and must spend 1 day per 1,000 gp of the price.

Example: Lidda has a pair of boots of striding and springing, and she wants to add a Dexterity bonus (rather than buying gloves of Dexterity). Her friend Mialee isn’t around, so Lidda must track down a stranger to do the work. She pays the wizard 4,000 gp, and four days later her boots now also grant her a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity. When Lidda later decides to improve the bonus to +4, she manages to talk Mialee (who has the Craft Wondrous Item feat and knows the cat’s grace spell) into performing the work. After spending eight 8-hour days of work and expending 6,000 gp of components (likely supplied by Lidda) and 480 XP, Mialee succeeds in increasing the +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity to +4.

>>96279465
Only barely though, so the table being on page 214 has to be specified separately. Guess I could have print screen>paint cropped it on the first one...

>>96279546
I always wondered if that was intended to pair the common effect with an exotic, or would pairing two commons be within the spirit of the rules?

IE Cloak of Resistance+Charisma.

>>96281062
Pretty sure the point is throwing on as many of these "boring numbers" on novel effects as you feel safe paying for.

>>96281136
Fair. I just worried about the spirit of the law.

Since we're on the topic, what are your favourite "niche" magic items that rarely see use due to slot competition? Personally i'm a huge sucker for fall damage reduction of any kind, but by the time i can justify grabbing items or features for it flight has been in play for a while

>>96282977
I love the Transponder Cloak but between the distance limit, the pitiful Will save to negate, and the daily limit, it's just not worth it.

Also it's a slotless item but a Decanter of Endless Water is mostly used to cause problems and is too expensive even if it's funny as hell.

>>96283895
That's a cool item.
Two of my favorite spells are Protective Interposition and Knight's Move, so I get it.

>>96245441 (OP)
>How do you handle the death of a PC?
Knights move
5 foot step if needed
Revivify

>>96265632
>Acrobat Boots
These are okay. I love the low level items like this and I think the 3 charges will actually carry you fine through the adventuring day.
>magebane dagger
You could have this but it'd be 8000 gp not 2000gp because you need a minimum enhancement of +1.
>deadly precision dagger
This is cool but it's going to have to be a +3 weapon overall price wise because the ability is +2 and the weapon has to be at least +1.
>nimbleness studded leather
Again this will have to be at least +1. The idea here is that you give up +1 enhancement bonus to grt extra maximum dexterity. Unless your dexterity is 22 or more, this is useless to you right now.
You also can hardly afford it cause it'd be 4000 gp.
>cloak of resistance
Good choice
>hand of the mage
Not bad.

So basically the issue is, you picked a couple items that are more expensive than you think (unless the DM said you could ignror the rule where you have to have at least a +1 enhancement bonus on weapons and armor first to get any abilities) but that's okay because a magebane dagger is kinda mid, and you can still get deadly precision later.

What i would suggest for spending your 9000 gp:
>+1 mithral chain shirt (2100 gp) gives you +5 AC
>Acrobat Boots (900 gp)
>Cloak of Resistance +1 (1000 gp and you can always upgrade it)
>a +1 dagger so you can help with stuff with DR/magic (2300 gp)
>a hand of the mage (900 gp)
This leaves you 1800 gold to play with. If you ditch the hand of the mage you could almost start with a +2 cloak. But how style is find another 900 gp magic item to have some fun with.
Sorry to burst your bubble.on the daggers. But if your DM does allow you to pick magic weapons with jsut abilities no enhancement,I'd stick to what i posted and just grab the deadly precision. Wait on the magebane dagger til you see how the campaign is going.

>>96261451
I would say no, as spell resistance doesn't apply to the spell in that way.
You get your fort save.

>>96245441 (OP)
I posted about this a few times in past threads - I found the best way is to try to do something like a 'west marches' style even if you are within a single group.
Someone dies, that player restarts from 1
if the rest of the group is too high, park those PCs and have them start new ones too.
Accumulate a stable of PCs at various levels and keep playing with death.
Combined with that have a roll-over mechanic where PCs get to keep a bit of their dead PCs - something like Reincarnation from the MMO version - some skill points, a random feat, a random spell, etc....

If you have that running smoothly and quickly, PC deaths are wonderful for keeping a campaign fresh and novel. Having players play the same PCs for months on end is a big contributor to burnout that kills campaigns imo.

>>96283895
>the pitiful Will save to negate
Take a look at p114 of the Epic Level Handbook

>>96285968
Consider using the nonepic Enhance Item feat de-
tailed below for an additional method of raising the DC
of a magic item.
Enhance Item [Item Creation]
You can increase the minimum DC for saving throws of
magic items you create.
Prerequisite: Any other item creation feat.
Benefit: Choose any item creation feat you already
know. When you create an item with that feat, adjust the
DC for saving throws required by the magic item, if any,
by your key ability modifier.
Normal: When a character creates a magic item, she
uses the minimum key ability score necessary to imbed a
spell of a given level, and the associated modifier to
adjust the DC for saving throws, regardless of her actual
key ability score, which could be higher.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each
time you take the feat, it applies to a different item cre-
ation feat that you already know.

Very nice Plus heighten spell metamagic to increase the Spell level component of the DC is good.

>>96245441 (OP)
>How do you handle the death of a PC? Do you prefer for the dice to fall how they may, or is a bit of narrative sculpting for dramatic effect or ease of play better?
In my table we still follow the classic D&D rule of "if they didn't survive till 9th (named/champion) level than they aren't worth mourning too much over."
Looking back, Druid is quite awesome in 3.5 because they unlock Reincarnate at Level 7, so you can get some safety net for the party early. It's cheaper than Raise Dead and can be done with pieces of the body with longer time pass. There's RNG for the race, but most option stat-wise's pretty good and you being a monster is a good RP seed.

>>96287352
Revivify might be the best Raise spell, but it's timing is tight.

>>96287557
>Revivify
>1 round of the victim's death
For those moment when the party receives massive damage to -10 HP or failed to stabilize. Honestly is there anything to slot in the Cleric's 5th-level slots other than this? Because you can do Raise Dead at least 8 days after the target died, so you don't have to slot it immediately. This seems to be the best option on the non-domain list.

>>96287764
I'd say one cast of it since if you need two or more the same day you have bigger problems, especially when the obnoxiously cost-effective Lesser Vigor wands are in play

>>96287764
Stalwart Pact will usually prevent the need for a Revivify.
Cleric will fall behind in experience if this is used regularly, but its one of those spells that would be mandatory in a real adventuring party that cares about survival.

>>96287557
>but it's timing is tight.
>>96287764
>1 round of the victim's death
Revenance is a very fun spell.

>>96288016
Damn Spell Compendium combos. Like the messed up thing about this is that you can extend at least 8 rounds to revive. Granted you need to slot a 4th and a 5th for death contingency, which might be better spend of healing and buffs to avoid it happening in the first place.

What's that really REALLY good 3.5 resource site that actually lets you index spells by class and level and descriptor?

>>96288959
Two versions in OP:

>>96245441 (OP)
>https://srd.dndtools.org
>https://dndtools.one/

>>96288963
It was the .one but it's not letting me just plug in cleric and cold descriptor as search variables. Damn.

>>96288996
...Right, the .org dndtools only has the srd. available, it's dndtools.net that has the currently-working search.

Would cold-typed spells dealing ability damage double that against a Fire Subtype enemy?

>>96289042
>Ability Damage
>This attack damages an opponent’s ability score. The creature’s descriptive text gives the ability and the amount of damage. If an attack that causes ability damage scores a critical hit, it deals twice the indicated amount of damage (if the damage is expressed as a die range, roll two dice).
>Points lost to ability damage return at the rate of 1 point per day (or double that if the character gets complete bed rest) to each damaged ability, and the spells lesser restoration and restoration offset ability damage as well.

Letter-wise it does seem to make sense, especially with spells like Shivering Touch that came out later. If I was the GM I'll allow it.
Any anons with more clarifications?

****
Also a link to an autistic list of ability damage spells:
>https://bg-archive.minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=8910

>>96289042
It's not double. It's +50%.

>>96289042
>Vulnerability to Energy
Some creatures have vulnerability to a certain kind of energy effect (typically either cold or fire). Such a creature takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from the effect, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.
it's 1.5x, but it's not limited to HP damage

>>96289042
>>96289345
>>96289378
>>96290264
Ah thanks.

>>96247372
I think you can make a couple narrative excuses as a DM to not partially or completely kill a party, but if the players know the safety net is there then you kinda lose some investment and players will just become oblivion/skyrim-tier murderhobos because they know they will never die even if they massacre entire towns for their cheese wheels

Does anyone here play both 3.5 and PF1? I am wondering why PF1 designers felt the need to nerf Dispel Magic so heavily - they removed area dispel entirely and instead of allowing the possibility to dispel all spells on a target you can only get 1.

Were there a lot of people in 3.5 era complaining that Dispel Magic is overpowered?

>>96291520
PF is made by people who saw the massive discrepancy in power level and flexibility between casters and martials in 3.5, and entered the fight on the side of casters. There is no cohesive game design, design ethos, or plan. It is the petty houserules of a small playgroup with a very narrow picture of what D&D 'should' be that is warped beyond recognition, and should be treated with the same level of scorn as any other teenager's powerwank.

>>96291495
>but if the players know the safety net is there then you kinda lose some investment and players will just become oblivion/skyrim-tier murderhobos because they know they will never die even if they massacre entire towns for their cheese wheels
Have you ever seen that happening? I can't imagine the guys I play with doing that. At all.

>>96291597
I think their evening out of some of the monster HD disparities was good.

D8 HD with universal Cha-as-Con and 3/4ths BAB for Undead helped fix a lot of the HD bloat and absurd STR numbers on them used to compensate for laughable BAB.

>>96291520
>Were there a lot of people in 3.5 era complaining that Dispel Magic is overpowered?
I don't think so, because even if you can take out multiple targets of a spell it's prioritized by caster level (and it's still only one spell per target). So you'll have common situations like where the strongest enemy caster will Mass Bull Strength, while his numerous minions will use Haste (casted or potion). You wanna dispel the Haste, but it'll prioritize the Mass Bull Strength.
It's useful, but its effectiveness can dwindle in many ways.

>>96291520
>Were there a lot of people in 3.5 era complaining that Dispel Magic is overpowered?
Dunno about complaining but in all high level 3.5 games I've played at a certain point a dispel war erupts with both sides trying to dispel each others' buffs, counterspell the dispels etc., it eventually gets a bit boring and I start doing it less as the GM, though I eventually blast the party with a disjunction when they get too complacent.

Removing area dispel from not-greater dispel feels like a nod towards players as I feel like at lower levels they're more likely to suffer from an area dispel compared to enemies, and at higher levels if they didn't prepare against greater dispel then fuck them anyway.

>>96291597
Honestly before even going to too much caster syndrome, I kinda hate that PF has no prestige classes outside the DM Guide for SRD compliance.

>>96292166
Fully agreed. I understand 1-20 systems are their own flavor and it's not intrinsically bad (though many of the implementations are poor), it's the fact that 3.5 more than anything else is defined by its build variety and the breadth of tools available to players to customize their character's mechanical identity. Losing that means losing the game.

>>96291868
I've seen it happen without the "I would never ever kill you guys because I'm a faggot blue haired DM" rule, where every minor annoyance or "ooh that guy has a cool sword, I want it" merited a battle. Even had the party paladin drop his vows because they forgot they had other means of dealing with issues other than "I stick pointy end of weapon on fleshy bits", only stopping after they got their asses whooped by constantly pushing the envelope on how many people they could fight at once/how many factions they could piss off at the same time

>>96291520
For every one thing pathfinder gets right it gets another thing wrong and a couple of things are a meh with worse theme than 3.5.
It is a good system to steal from for certain things and retroactively apply them to 3.5 if you are into "fixing" the game, at least up to the point that it caters to your likes and needs but i wouldn't play it over 3.5 because of egregious shit like this.

One thing pathfinder did well is fixing the CR of certain creatures because 3.5 is a mess, but what i personally like the most how feature rich is every base class.
Because i hate multiclass optimizations in my games and prefer a more casual game that usually players will pick a prestige class after maybe a single multiclass to enter as soon as possible and follow it through to the end. I would like for the base classes to be more viable but i still wouldnt chose pathfinder over 3.5 for them

>>96291868
I think even players whose preferred play style leads away from murder-hoboing will be adversely affected and gradually make more risky decisions than they otherwise would.
humans can't help it. You can even see it in single player games - soon as iron man mode is on, people start playing very differently.

Would you guys allow this spell in your 3.5 game?
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/spellcasting-contract/
It's ill phrased
>a profane bonus to your Armor Class, saving throws, and checks..
and than the later example goes
> +2 profane bonus to attacks, saves, and checks
In reading up on it online, someone mentioned that 'a check' is any d20 die roll in the game - if so, that would already include attacks and saving throws, so the bonus should be phrased as
>Armor Class and checks

Except I am still trying to find where exactly in the rules 'a check' is defined like that.
So far I found this on page 34 of Dungeon Master's Guide Premium edition
>Key Concept 1: Checks are used to accomplish something, while saves are used to avoid something.
So that implies Saving Throws are not checks.
Any text clarifying if an Attack Roll is considered 'a check'?

>>96293595
>Any text clarifying if an Attack Roll is considered 'a check'?
so far, I am leaning toward no
Than this would give +2 profane bonus to AC, saving throws, skill checks, ability checks, turning checks, caster level checks.
For the price of permanently locking up one 5th level spell slot.
Too broken?

When using an "X targets per level no further than Y apart" spell does each get its own damage roll ot do you treat it like a true AoE and roll once for everyone ?

>>96293595
>>96293640
I uh don't know about that I'd say yeah sure +2 to everything (And if you're an Asmodeus cultist you're likely to have other overlapping profane bonuses on a lot of these things anyway rendering them partially wasted)

>>96293595
That sounds absurd. Don't forget that it's not just locking down a 5th level spell slot for a permanent buff, but it's also imbuing someone with spells that don't even count against your personal slots. The net benefit to the party is enormous, and the fact that the passive buff is on par with casting Permanency on something like Ray of Hope just makes it sillier.

>>96293710
I feel like the spirit of it says it shouldn't just be used for your party but to spread the cult as a whole.

>>96293709
Depends on the source, from what i've seen over the years
>General AoE "Field effect"? Once
>Multiple effects being split amongst X targets? Each

>>96293736
If it's not in the contract it's not in the contract. Every MLM says to start with friends and family, and if I'm on the hook for how the chucklefuck uses the spells you give them you'd better believe I'm keeping a close eye on them.

>>96293710
That's a good comparison. Permanency is also a 5th level spell, but you don't lock the slot down forever.
also, I agree with >>96293736
If i were to allow this, the contract would have to be with someone who is not already serving the faith's interests, to get them to start doing so. If the cleric is with the party, it implies the party is already doing that anyway.

>>96293794
I could see it being used on something of a hireling or temporary escort as a sample.

>>96293816
>"So how exactly I'm I able to do all of these magical jumbo? The contract doesn't really say..."
>"We just borrow it from the lord of the 9th layer of hell."
I think the implication of the spell is also on the difficulty of convincing/deceiving normies on the source of the power. So you're like stuck with narcissistic, desperate, and/or amoral degenerates as "safe" targets.

>>96293595
>would you allow bullshit from Pathfinder in your game
Look up Blood Money spell and then get back to me

>>96291520
>Does anyone here play both 3.5 and PF1?
Yeah I begrudgingly run Pathfinder 1e because my group is into it and would screech if we went back to 3.5 because of undead / construct crit immunities.
Like okay I'll just replace them with fortification. I like that as a rule anyway and genuinely believe it should have been in the original game.
Until then I'm just gonna keep hitting them with bullshit CMB-focused monsters with reach to disarm and trip them and laugh.

>Hibernal Healing
>You absorb slush, snow, and ice, channeling the cold energy stored within to cure 10 points of damage per caster level, to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level.
The spell melts all slush, snow, and ice within 10 feet of the caster.
...
>cold energy stored within
>cold energy
This triggers me. I think more than anything else in 3rd edition. I hate Frostburn and the retards who wrote it. Its reminding me that I play a game that is at least partially written by people dumber than an average 11 year old.

>>96297035
Cold is actually a separate Energy type associated with the Water element, quite obviously displayed with the Paraelemental Plane of Ice that mixes Water with Air. Always remember the default Great Wheel Cosmology whenever any question of realism comes up.

>>96297035
are you also triggered by acid energy?

>>96298102
No. I got a D in chemistry, so I don't know enough about that to be triggered. But I know that 'cold' is by definition an absence of energy. My grade 2 education is at odds with this source book.
None of you ever obsess about stuff like this?

>>96298162
Not really, because the ruleset is very clear about very different properties of reality. Moral value judgements are an objective cosmic force things can be physically made of such that one can entirely literally drown in Evil, for example.

>>96298162
No. D&D physics are not real physics.

>>96298162
>None of you ever obsess about stuff like this?
no more than about positive energy, negative energy, force energy, sonic energy and so on

>>96298162
Do you think it's Oxygen that the PCs are breathing?

I had an idea for a magic item similar to a runestaff, thoughts?

Aether Staff
>An aether staff functions as a +1 quarterstaff. Unlike most staffs, it holds no spells of its own – instead, it allows a spellcaster to launch bolts of magical force at one enemy within 100 feet by expending one or more spell slots of 5th level or lower. Each projectile deals 2d6 points of force damage per spell slot level, and no more than five total spell slot levels can be expended at once.
>Similar to magic missile or force missile, the projectiles created by this staff strike unerringly, ignoring anything less than total cover or total concealment, though you cannot single out specific parts of a creature to hit.
>Spell resistance applies against the staff’s projectiles. As with any staff, the user may use either the staff’s caster level or their own when attempting to overcome an opponent’s spell resistance.
>Moderate evocation; CL 12th; Craft Staff, arcane missile, force missile; Price 15,000 gp.

>>96299462
Seems cute, but I worry about the ability to toss away large numbers of spell slots at once to make a salvo, and the lack of a cap on times per day it can be used.That being said, I'm comparing it to the Runestaff of Evocation and it seems about on par, though it's definitely better than an Runestaff of various missile spells for the aforementioned reasons.

"RUNESTAFF OF EVOCATION
Price (Item Level): 25,000 gp (15th)
Body Slot: — (held)
Caster Level: 13th
Aura: Strong; (DC 21) evocation
Activation: As spell used
Weight: 3 lb.
This smooth, yew staff has a rune of an arrow halfway down its length.
A runestaff of evocation allows you to cast any of the following spells (each two times per day) by expending a prepared arcane spell or arcane spell slot of the same level or higher.
• chain lightning
• fireball
• ice storm
• magic missile
• shatter
• wall of force"

>>96299582
Yes, making a salvo is supposed to be one of its strengths. I priced it with 5th level spell squared times 400, like a typical runestaff, then multiplied that by 1.5. Though I did forget to add the 2300 gp cost for the +1 staff itself though.

>>96297035
>>96298162
Many schools are shit at teaching science, to the point where students walk away thinking "science" means "the body of knowledge gathered by scientists".
Science is a *process* - one based on direct observation of the world over thought experiments and "common sense", where any past conclusion can be thrown out if new evidence proves it can't be true.

In a world where the Elemental Planes of Fire and Water exists as opposing forces underlying reality, our existing theories of combustion and "cold is just the absence of hot" are provably false, so the scientific approach is to accept that.

>>96297035
>>96298162
Many schools are shit at teaching science, to the point where students walk away thinking "science" means "the body of knowledge gathered by scientists".
Science is a *process* - one based on direct observation of the world over thought experiments and "common sense", where any past conclusion can be thrown out if new evidence proves it can't be true. In fact, by definition science *cannot* prove things to be true, it can only prove things to be false.

In a world where the Elemental Planes of Fire and Water exists as opposing forces underlying reality, our existing theories of combustion and "cold is just the absence of hot" are provably false, so the scientific approach is to accept that.

Clarify something about the Crusader's recharge mechanism to me, will you?
Say a character Maneuvers A, B, C, D, and E prepared and he has the Extra Granted Maneuver feat.
First round he begins with Maneuvers A, B and E Granted. He spends Maneuver E.
>Granted A, B
>Withheld C, D
>Expended E
Second round, he begins with D Granted, and uses A.
>Granted B, D
>Expended E, A
>Withheld C
Third round, he begins with C Granted, and uses D.
>Granted B, C
>Expended E, A, D
>Withheld None
Fourth round he begins with E, A, D Granted again?
If that's right, does that mean that from this point on it's a cycle of use one, recover one, grant one?
I think I probably understood something wrong here and there's a full reset at some point, otherwise wouldn't that mean that in this example from the fourth round onward he'd be able to essentially always use whichever maneuver he had readied?
And yeah, I know, 4 fucking rounds is a lot and at that point the fight is probably not going to last much longer, but still.
I'm sure I got something wrong somewhere.
I guess
>If, at the end of your turn, you cannot be granted a maneuver because you have no withheld maneuvers remaining, you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of readied maneuvers is granted to you.
Means that a full reshuffle happens at this point instead of it Granting from the Recovered Maneuvers?
I think my confusion is coming from
>you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of readied maneuvers is granted to you.
Because at no point it specifies, as far as I can tell, that the previously Granted but not expended Maneuvers are reshuffled, but I guess that it makes sense that it does since it specifies that you are Granted a pair of new Maneuvers at that point.

>>96301637
> If, at the end of your turn, you cannot be granted a maneuver because you have no withheld maneuvers remaining, you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of readied maneuvers is granted to you. Randomly determine which of your maneuvers are granted and which are withheld. At the end of your next turn, a withheld maneuver is granted to you, and the whole process of divine inspiration begins again.
From the wording It seems the spirit of the ruling is for you to reshuffle completely, granted and expended. Whatever you didn't use in the final round is "wasted." Which to be fair makes sense in game design as it's probably not used for so long = useless at the time.
The feat allows you to have extra granted in the start & reshuffling so you can both have more option and reduce the cycle cool down. Without the feat it will take your example 5 rounds instead of 4.

The new cycle start would be like:
5th
>Granted A, C, D
>Withed: B, E
>Choose from A, C, or D

>>96301637
>>96301745
I think the gives more clarification (pic).

>>96301745
>>96301859
>From the wording It seems the spirit of the ruling is for you to reshuffle completely, granted and expended. Whatever you didn't use in the final round is "wasted." Which to be fair makes sense in game design as it's probably not used for so long = useless at the time.
That was the conclusion I got to by the time I got to the end of that post but it still feels very indirect in the text itself.
The card example is a lot more clear in that aspect.
Thank you anon.

Players asked if Delay Poison would protect them from a Ghoul's Paralysis.
After doing some searches, found a surprising tidbit - according to Gygax
https://www.enworld.org/threads/when-did-ghouls-become-undead.215360/page-2#post-3967138
>The negative energy of the ghoul is the rason for its paralyzing ability. Elves, having great positive energy, are thus immune to the effect.
So I guess Death Ward should protect you from it

>>96303329
I'd take Gygax's stuff with a grain of salt, but that does seem more plausible than poison.

>>96298162
There is beings made out of literal Evil and Chaos walking around. There is fucking Mineral energy!
If anything I lament that D&D doesn't do enough to explain it outside of Planescape books, and even then they got too tame with it after initial run.

Keeping cosmology in mind when creating abilities and spells would have also made a lot of things way more straightforward to work with in play. But Elements of Magic third party books exists so it's kinda okay.

>>96308908
>Keeping cosmology in mind when creating abilities and spells would have also made a lot of things way more straightforward to work with in play.
Conversely, it massively complicates variant cosmologies which would be a bone-anchor for Eberron.

>>96314536
Sorry redpill me on Eberron's cosmology, because I always thought there's only one cosmology for the setting. Like 13 planes orbiting around Eberron.
>https://web.archive.org/web/20210126051904/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/orary/orary.asp

Did they change it between editions?

>>96320691
The issue is that it's UTTERLY irreconcilable with the Great Wheel used by most of the other official settings including both the default pseudo-Greyhawk and the frequently-supported Forgotten Realms, so if you're making abilities lean on the cosmology then it's the Great Wheel they'll be tailored for first dictating awkward conversions to the very different Eberron cosmology.

>>96320885
Ah thanks, sorry for my misunderstanding.
It does reminds me of my friend's rant when 5e's Ravnica book came out, and to be fair to him MtG and D&D has vastly different cosmology but 5e kinda ignores and side steps that issue by not explaining it.

>>96301859
I forget, did 3.5 ever start actually selling card packs like that or was 4e when that weird shit started?

>>96324113
I don't think it was ever a product, but Maneuver cards to support Crusader were in a PDF.

As a cleric, how can you protect and strengthen your party against enemies that are pure physical damage? There are plenty of ways to protect against casters, or debilitating abilities, but I'm not sure what to do against stuff that just hits really hard. All I know of is AC, and at higher levels it seems like the enemies have such high attack bonuses that AC bonuses don't help much for most characters.

>>96327863
Miss chances are generally pretty strong. Doesn't matter how high the attack bonus is, the attack still has a 20-50% chance to whiff. On the other hand, miss chances can sometimes be straight up ignored.

>>96327863
That's easy. You heal them. In many cases physical damage is the easiest thing to mitigate because it's discrete units of HP rather than an all-or-nothing like someone getting dominated or put to sleep. Physical attackers are also where you can lean more on summon monster spam to make meatshields, or things like Wind Wall and Blade Barrier to sculpt the battlefield.

>>96327934
Do clerics have any worthwhile combat healing options before Heal? Cure X Wounds is fairly weaksauce.

>>96329457
I made a list of notable healing spells in my character sheet some two years ago and completely forgot about it, so, take it with a grain of salt, I guess?
>Healing
>1 -Faith Healing : Casting Time: 1 standard action; Range: Touch; Heals 8 +1/CL(up to +5) to creatures that worship the same deity. Basically a maximized Cure Light Wounds;
>2 -Close Wounds : Casting Time: 1 immediate action; Range: 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels; Heals 1d4+1/cl (max +5). Can prevent someone from dying;
>2 -Estanna's Stew : Casting Time: 1 round; Duration: 1 hour; The spell creates one serving per two caster levels (max 5). Each serving heals 1d6+1 and requires a standard action to consume;
>2 -Conduit of Life : Heals 2d10+1/caster level (maximum +10) when using turn undead or lay on hands. Heals 3d8+1/caster level (maximum +10) if you are already subject to an ongoing healing effect (such as vigor, or if you receive a cure spell while conduit of life is still in effect
>3 -Light of Venya : Two ways. 3d6 damage or 6d6 against undead or heal 1d6+CL (maximum 1d6+10) to non-evil.
>3 -Irian's Light : Fire one ray, (two at 7th level three at 11th) to heal 2d8 per ray (damage undead). Ranged touch attack.

>>96329457
>>96329754
>4 -Healing Spirit : Casting Time: standard action; Range: 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels; Duration: 1 round/2 levels; Sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and shadowy illumination for another 20 feet; Has fly 30ft; Once per round can be directed to enter a space and heals a creature for 1d8;
>4 -Positive Energy Aura : Casting Time: standard action; Range: Personal; Area: 10-ft.-radius centered on you; Duration: 1 round/level; Living creatures heal 1hp/3CL (max 5), undead lose 2 hp/round. Candidate for Persisting;
>4 -Seed of Life : Casting Time: standard action; Range: Touch; Duration: 10 rounds + 1 round/level max 30 rounds; Fast healing 2. Can end the spell to heal (1d4/2 rounds remaining). Good candidate for Extend;
>4 -Panacea : Casting Time: 1 standard action; Range: Touch; Cures blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, frightened, nauseated, panicked, paralyzed, shaken, sickened, and stunned and heals 1d8+1 (max 20);
>5 -Darts of Life : Casting Time: standard action; Range: 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels; Duration: 1 min/level; Creates 10 orbs that heal 1d8 each, launch one orb at ally as free action, 3 as a standard action, or all as a full round action;
>6 --
>7 -Fortunate Fate : Casting Time: 1 minute; Range: Touch; Duration: 10 minutes/level or until discharged; If target were to die, it's affected by a Heal spell and is saved;

>>96329762
I specifically remember looking at seed of life and thinking that it could be cool with extend, although I didn't actually calculate how much healing you could do with double the duration.

>>96329794
unfortunately the FAQ says that extend doesn't double the maximum duration of spells, so you'd just get the 15d4

>>96320885
Closed and aberrant worlds are literally a standard feature in Planescape. Yes, people rarely visit them and return back, but they are a known quantity. Athas, Eberron, Ravenloft - for different reasons getting to them and then getting out is hard, which is tied to their unique properties (plus on Athas and Ravenloft you get raped in the ass by "dragons" or dark powers).

>>96331252
This doesn't change that mechanics specifically interacting with Great Wheel planar dynamics would need re-written for the differing planar dynamics of Eberron.

>>96330877
Well, that's a bummer, even if it's just the FAQ.

>>96327863
>>96327934
I wouldn't use healing as the main defense during combat. Sure, nobody's going to complain about getting their hit points back, but if you're using valuable spells and actions to deal with the effects rather than negating the causes, one unlucky crit can turn lots of damage into way too much damage and a dead fighter.

What are some splatbook classes or prestige classes that you would say are fun to play, /3.Xg/? There's so many things that exist for this edition that you could hardly try everything, so I'm curious what good experiences outside of using the core materials people have had.

>>96334672
My character is a Cleric, Knight of the Raven, Ordained Champion.
Ordained Champion (Complete Champion) is fun as hell. Each level gives you a cool class feature. I stopped at level 3, and channeling Lava Missile and Shivering Touches through my sword is cool as hell.
Knight of the Raven (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft) is pretty nice, but the god damn Raven familiar is such a standout. It even has actual maneuvers to fight in tandem with you like getting into the enemy space to lower its AC.

>>96245441 (OP)
I did an undead campaign once. Best campaign I even played. My character was a lich with a magical crown that gave him bonuses, but for flavor and balance, I requested every now then I'd have to take a will save or the DM controls my character for a little while. Unfortunately we both kept forgetting the will save.

>>96334672
Psychic Warrior, while still SRD content, is amusing to me for the class saying even less than Fighter about your build because it has nearly the same feat volume with even more options plus 20 Powers Known split between at least three fields.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing something or module writers had no idea what they were doing when setting random encounter frequency. Reading through a fairly big dungeon, around 800 feet wide per floor, and it says players have a 25% of rolling on the random encounter table per hour. By my math, that means they can walk from one end to the other 10 times before they proc that 25% chance. At that point, why even have the random encounter table?

(I know they'll spend extra time searching rooms but that only really comes up the first time they pass through any room. In any dungeon you're meant to visit more than once, I don't see that being a reliable time sink.)

>>96335444
Taking 20 on searching slows it down immeasurably.

>>96335478
Good point, did some quick math and scouring a 30 by 30 room (not uncommon in a dungeon) is an hour and change all by itself.

Can animals and animal companions smell out the true, or at least suspicious nature of Change Shaped creatures?

any out of the way rules or lore on this?

>>96335772
I'd call it reasonable at all but the highest levels of the ability very old members of species that have it as an innate ability or the top end polymorph spells. That sort of thing is probably one of the hardest traits to fake.

>>96335772
>>96337713
I'd say to run it through Scent's use of the Survival rules, so some Animal Companions without the Special Ability will lack it and you still have to go through the hoops to start "tracking" by Scent.

>>96335772
>>96337713
>>96337916
On the topic of shapeshifting, would it really be so bad to allow Changelings lesser change shape to qualify for Warshaper?


Change shape supernatural ability.
Shapechanger subtype.
Polymorph as a spell-like ability.
Able to cast the polymorph spell.
Wild shape or similar class feature (bear warrior, druid). The alternate form ability (possessed by quasits, vampires, and others) is insufficient to become a warshaper.


These basically demand a full on (Wasted HD and LA) monster race or a bunch of time as a caster to get into a purely martial PRC.

(I also usually revert the limits on Imps and Quasits to the 3.0 rules of 2-3 forms "Anything medium or smaller" so would also qualify them)

>>96337960
....I am an idiot I just rechecked the Changeling statline and even if their ability is "Lesser Shapechange" and not "Change shape" they DO have the shapechanger subtype and thus qualify.

>>96337960
>>96337984
Huh, shifters also qualify via subtype.

It's an interesting class for a martial entry rather than the normally intended Druid, but dropping to 3/4ths BAB and d8 hd is painful.

>>96338005
Eh, it isn't too bad if you enter the prestige class by wild shape ranger, you lose a little BAB, but between warshaper and MoMF, you feel pretty good on the table top:

https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/ranger.html#predator

Had a thought for homebrewing a few monsters for the thing where some deep sea critters directly use stinging cells from things they eat. After finding the technical terminology of the case I was thinking about from three passes of beating my head against very poorly thought out keywords, I'm thinking that the interaction could be modeled with the offshoots of the digestive tract that concentrate the stinging cells in the tips of the tendrils being beyond-standard "containers" for smaller-than-necessary Swallow Whole subjects with terms to pull off items at the necessary scale, make damage optional, and voluntarily release interfacing with zooids implemented as (Symbiont) sub-creatures thus subject to the item separation and thereby able to be spared damage to take abilities as equipment while properly digesting unwanted parts.

Flow on the slug being something like "Bite"/Tentacle attack>Disarm/Grapple check>Swallow Whole>Disarm>Tendril "stomach">release or eat, then the colonial creatures just give a by-line on which abilities are (Symbiont) elements, a shorthand statblock like the AEG Buckler Beetle, and how those elements can end up attached to something else with at least one available to the slug.

Maybe stick to one based on each of the main groups of Cnidaria, so one jellyfish, one hydroid, one sea anemone, and one coral.

>>96292166
>Honestly before even going to too much caster syndrome, I kinda hate that PF has no prestige classes outside the DM Guide for SRD compliance.
PF does have prestige classes. Not nearly as many as 3.5 because a lot of would-be PrCs were made into archetypes instead, but still a fair number.

>>96334758
Ordained champion is fucming awesome.
Free quicken of Divine Power and Flamestrike alongside all the other cool shit are worth the casting progression loss simply due to how cool the whole kit is.

>>96338074
Yeah once you throw in MoMF to get around the size cap that's a pretty good combo. Though i think tossing Warshaper onto a Changeling martial could be really interesting in its own way. (Even if you can't take advantage of the upsized damage dice.)

>>96284506
Are you sure? There are other spells with save effects that are subject to spell resistance.

Would people actually want epic level 3.5e modules? I have a couple ideas for them and I love the idea of actually publishing modules. I noticed that there's a completely lack of modules of level 26 to 29. Thinking of making a vermin-based one, with lots of paragon vermin and vermiurge, and even a large demiplane where their god originates from.

>>96344017
No reason not to do it. I think part of the lack is how few parties make it that far and also how few DMs get to epic levels while still using modules heavily.

>>96344017
My DM often takes stuff straight out of modules and plops it into the campaign and we'll probably make it to Epic Levels in a year or so.
So yeah, some epic modules would be dope.

>>96344048
>>96345347
Alright I'll start typing that stuff up.

Let's say we have a creature that was corrupted by copious amounts of negative energy and that an absurd amount of positive or "good" energy is necessary to revert the situation.
How would you guys do it?
Assume lvl 6 of Cleric spell and lvl 8 of arcane spells (sorcerer and wizard).
Plane shift? Planar Ally something made of pure fucking good?
I'm thinking plane shift is the better way, but I'd like to consider other options.

>>96349903
Honestly I'd be surprised they weren't just dead outright. Chucking them into the Positive Energy Plane is my thought when you've got level 8 arcane magic, but you can't leave them there too long or they'll explode like a potato in the microwave.

Are they just saturated with negative energy or is it also level/ability drain?

>>96349936
>Are they just saturated with negative energy or is it also level/ability drain?
The former, I think.
It's more of a plot thing than an actual mechanic.
Might be something more akin to a divine level curse or the like if that makes sense.

>but you can't leave them there too long or they'll explode like a potato in the microwave.
Oh yeah, that's a thing.

>>96338005
Honestly? The ability to have infinite attacks at ever-increasing piles of die size is more than enough of a trade-off.

>>96350144
That's what I figured. For better or worse the only thing strong enough to fight plot is plot, so a Knowledge (Religion) or Knowledge (The Planes) check is gonna get you more than any mechanical info we can muster.

>>96350187
I failed to mention that that information was the result of the Knowledge(Arcana) check.
The thing was corrupted by experimentation consisting of intense torture and exposure to negative ane "evil" energies.
And it can spread the corruption like an infection too, fun.
>For better or worse the only thing strong enough to fight plot is plot
Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.

>>96349903
maybe repeatedly casting spells like heal or resurrection? see if they have any long-term effect

>>96350599
That's not a bad idea.
A single casting of heal would be a ton of positive energy after all.
Yeah.
Have a Positive Energy Aura and Vigor going at the same time too.
That could work.

Actually, since Plane Shift was mentioned. How does the spell work anyway?
I know Knowledge (The Planes) has some DCs to know about the plane you are on and about other planes, and the spell needs a
> A small, forked metal rod. The size and metal type dictates to which plane of existence or alternate dimension the spell sends the affected creatures.
Is that something you need somebody to craft? Can you just pull one from a Spell Component Pouch on demand despite being such a specific material? Etc etc.
I only really know of the spell, never seen it used, so I have no idea how people usually run it.

This old turkey is still around?

>>96352569
What? The general or the game?

>>96352043
if the cleric can cast deathwatch, that might help monitor the amount of positive energy in the creature

If I am homebrewing a monster with SLAs, is it acceptable to give them multiple feats to empower or quicken said spell-like abilities, when the monster's total level makes all the feats work but not otherwise? i.e. a 15th-level monsters taking quicken spell-like ability for two 3rd level SLAs (it wouldnt qualify for one of them at 12 hd, but by 15 hd both are fine)

>>96354779
By RAW it isn't. You can't bank feats for later and even with the PHB2's rules for feat retraining you have to have met the prerequisites at the time in addition to meeting them now.

Does anyone else think that certain monsters such as dragons, fiends, and even some undead just have unrealistically inflated amounts of natural armor? Or is it supposed to represent (in part) them wearing customized armor already in some cases? I feel like it would make more sense for something like a Horned Devil or Marilith to have a lower amount of starting natural armor, but then adding bracers of armor or something of the sort that can balance it back out and make for good loot.

>>96349903
In regular cosmologies, positive and negative energies are differerent from "good" and "evil" alignment. A demon, which is made of evil and chaos, is still healed by positive energy, and a skeleton, despite moving due to negative energy, is not an [evil] subtype creature. So if the subject is undead, i'd use healing spells that use positive energy or resurrection, while for something that's been corrupted by Evil energy, i'd use spells or effects with the [good] descriptor.

>>96356984
AC boosting items get expensive enough that it eats a LOT into the budget for more interesting items and flavorful trade goods, while trying to diversify them necessarily entails offering stackable AC bonuses to the players thus risking bricked combat math.

Conversely, it's also a significant driver of honest LA values because shifting it from lootable to Natural Armor makes it stack with standard PC items, as does the ability score inflation.

I've wanted to square this by internalizing the "basic" item buffs so the value doesn't stack, shapeshifting isn't as good, and Monster Hunter-style "craft from body parts" is easily systematized. But that'd be really time-consuming for a heartbreaker project rather than something that'd fit well in a simple Variant rule.

>>96245441 (OP)
Is there a any lesser known media I can shamelessly lift ideas for a Religious character's "challenge" from?
Something like Indiana Jones' bridge's leap of faith or the pious hallway you needed to be "humble" to get through. Just less known so he has to think a little and not go "Oh, THIS one! I know the answer to this!"
I'm putting together challenges for each specific party member, and I've got one for the warrior, one for the scholar and just need some ideas for the man of faith.
He'll be temporarily transporting a small item that resembles a relic through it as it's one of the "keys" to access the dungeon's final area.
If anyone has ideas for it, I would be grateful.

Are grapple rules really that bad in practice? I hear a lot of tables ignore grapples, but then I look at the monster manual and there are quite a few monsters which *seem* built around grappling?

>>96359244
It's really awkward to resolve due to the nested checks with varying conditions and makes for a poor "standard" option due to the size cutoff and monster-math inflating it like crazy. The premier "Grappling PRC" does little about either application issue, instead being adored for a literally-unholy assload more damage by shoving multiple Natural Attacks with whatever buffs you can give them into single attack-replacement checks which happens to line up well with a sufficiently large Grapple bonus source. The size cutoff remains unaddressed, usually to be handwaved with shapeshifting.

>>96359244
They're more fiddly than they should be and not that effective in a player's hands. They're not as complicated as their reputation implies though.

>>96359239
Insist on how fragile the relic is and imply he can't effectively help or assist his allies while carrying it.
The true challenge is him forsaking guarding the relic to instead assist or save an ally (or something to that regard).
Can help with any specific media in mind though.

>>96360058
*can't

Is there any resource that helps you build a character step by step (including all the extra books classes/races)? I have a couple friends wanting to play but they are zoom zooms and need help.

>>96362275
You mean like an automated character builder?
I only know of pcgen, which is clunky and jank as hell, and
>https://web.archive.org/web/20151105190033/http://www.pathguy.com/cg35.htm
There's probably others, but none with all the splats and stuff.
Then again, if they are new, it might be for the better to start with only core.

>>96362275
If they're that new and impatient i suggest against including stuff outside core

Here's a tip.
If you ever click a link in the srd.dndtools and it 404s, see if the .html extension of the file is in upper case, If it is, rewrite it to be in lower case.
For example
Wrong :
>https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/feats/noncore-featslm.HTML#ENDURING%20LIFE
Correct :
>https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/feats/noncore-featslm.html#ENDURING%20LIFE

>>96362355
>>96362475
I agree with the core only pwrt.....however it was difficult enough to not get them to do 5e. Sacrifices needed to be made

Anybody here ever used the spell Call Faithful Servants?
If so, what for?
>You call 1d4 lawful good lantern archons from Celestia, 1d4 chaotic good coure eladrins from Arborea, or 1d4 neutral good musteval guardinals from Elysium to your location.
>They serve you for up to one year as guards, soldiers, spies, or whatever other holy purpose you have.
>No matter how many times you cast this spell, you can control no more than 2 HD worth of celestials per caster level.
>If you exceed this number, all the newly called creatures fall under your control, and any excess servants from previous castings return to their home plane.
>Abstinence Component: The character must abstain from casting Conjuration spells for 3 days prior to casting this spell.
It just looks like one of those spells that has a thousand uses and one.

>>96364625
Fair enough.
There's somebody working on a character generator in the GitP forums. Maybe contact the person and offer to beta test the thing. I dunno.

>>96364629
I haven't used it before, but if I did, I'd probably use it just to summon some lantern archons for instant delivery of items and messages as well as casting continual flames. They only have 1 or 2 HD so even in high numbers they're no good for combat at the level you can cast the spell. They can also die permanently because it's a calling spell. The musteval's stealth skills really aren't up to snuff for spying and the coure, though sneakier, is going to flip out when it eavesdrops on somebody evil. Maybe keep one musteval with you to chat with wildlife or stack coures to Aid your Diplomacy checks, I dunno.

>>96364629
Never fail another check ever again with what is effectively a +CL*2 to everything via aid another
Plus one would look dope as heaven when going around with an entire orbit of lanterns around them

>>96365117
That's what I figured too. The idea wouldn't be to have them help with combat, although having a 15 mouses shooting lvl3 magic missiles at will could actually be useful depending on the combat scenario.

>They can also die permanently because it's a calling spell
>>96368238
>effectively a +CL*2 to everything via aid another
Is that how that work?

>>96368238
>Plus one would look dope as heaven when going around with an entire orbit of lanterns around them
Yeah, alright. Guess I'm casting the spell even if I don't have a use in mind.
You convinced me.

>>96368322
>>effectively a +CL*2 to everything via aid another
>Is that how that work?
Lantern archons have 1 HD so you can have 2xCL of them summoned at once. Whether they can meaningfully Aid Another with any and every check is debatable, especially since you can't take 10 on AA.

>>96368627
You can if the action can be repeated on a failure, or if it's not a time-sensitive matter. There are explicit cases of checks where you cannot take 10, but those are the exceptions

>>96368658
> You can help another character achieve success on his or her skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to his or her check, as per the rule for favorable conditions. (You can’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

>>96368627
>Whether they can meaningfully Aid Another with any and every check is debatable
Or if all of them can help at once, yeah.
Regardless.
No reason not to have a couple of each type of celestial around.

>>96368677
Ah, my bad

Has anyone ever run, or participated in a truly evil campaign?

>>96371658
Yes, and it got boring fast. IT's like turning on god-mode in a video-game, only fun for the first hour or so before the lack of challenge or interesting encounters starts to overstay its welcome.

>>96371658
Tried it once, and had similar experience to >>96372068. The problem with true evil D&D is like you need to be edgy 24/7. Most people can't be a serious asshole for a whole campaign without going into the ham-comic territory.
The best in my opinion for evil in D&D is you starting out good, and in the end have to be the lesser or greater evil. I think the devs knew this too, because the interesting/gimicky evil prestige classes are Ex-classes.

>>96372068
>>96372212
The bigger issue is that the interesting parts of D&D come when you care about something in the game world for reasons that aren't mechanical, and most evil actions directly undermine that on a conceptual level. Killing NPCs, destroying towns, looting and ravaging; it's impossible to get invested in a world when stripping it for parts. There's certainly cases where the party can be "evil" by being self-serving, overly expedient, or ruthless, but they can never be uncaring or nihilistic because caring is what makes the game possible.

>>96372231
You hit the nail on the head anon

>>96372231
>most evil actions directly undermine that on a conceptual level.
Yeah basically like real life.
Technically you can side-step out of that by only doing that on a opponent that's separated from your care. Like excessive violence and retribution on your enemies shit, but even then It's not as entertaining as the default explore and get better treasure experience of D&D.

>>96372068
>>96372212
>>96372231
>>96371658
I did in a series of oneshots. It was fun. Just a different way of playing the same game. Instead of diplomacy you would intimidate, steal threaten etc.
Other than that it's exactly the same. You just work for the bad guys fighting the good guys instead of the opposite.
I think the problem most people have is that they cant take alignment seriously and make evil characters be comically evil, when the most prevalent form of evil is very self centered and banal and usually comes out when faced with hard choices.
You dont have to play a psychopath always doing the most batshit destructive and insane things to be chaotic evil

>>96372367
>You dont have to play a psychopath always doing the most batshit destructive and insane things to be chaotic evil
You absolutely do though? If you don't get enough evil points on your session report card, your character will change alignment to neutral. You Have to be a psuchopath to qualify for Evil anon, you don't get to keep the alignment by wearing black and being slightly emo.

>>96374072
you can be evil without being a psychopath. this is just a fundamental misunderstanding of what good and evil is both in dnd and in general.
Any petty thief that commits small time robberies pick pocketing and cheats at dice in the local tavern and in general commits a ton of small evil acts every day. He has no consideration for his fellow humanoids and is something of a low wolf that doesnt like structure and orders and prefers to work alone, being small time enough that the local thieves guild leave him be. That guy would be Chaotic evil and he has never committed an atrocity in his life.
And you certainly dont get alignment shifted to neutral after a session or 2 of simply not doing anything extraordinarily evil in any campaign that isnt extremely retarded.
People with opinions like yours are unironically the problem, and the reason alignment was eventually scrapped in latter editions

>>96374156
>you can be evil without being a psychopath
Anon, that actual lorebooks for 3.5 like the book of vile darkness call that kind of mental gymnastics. "Evil" isn't "I cheat at gambling sometimes". Everything you described would be chaotic neutral at best, most like true neutral if we were honest.
Evil in D&D is genuine, unapologetic, inhuman Evil. The "I rape a child for hours before murdering them in front of their parents" kind.
Stop giving the rest of us a bad name with your noncommittal pussy shit. You wouldn't even make it into pandemonium with deeds that shallow.

>>96375406
>"Evil" isn't "I cheat at gambling sometimes".
Unless you use the Cheat spell before SpC at least.

>>96375406
the book of vile darkness is all about evil in its most extreme form exactly the same way the book of exalted good is about good.
Small evil acts are still evil, the same way a small good act is still good. Harming people, denying them their livelihoods etc are still evil acts. When you do at best neutral acts and evil acts then you are evil. If you were to be neutral there would have to be some semblance of balance between good and bad acts along with the neutral ones.

If we go according to what you re saying then the 99% of the population should be neutral, but this is not the way dnd showcases it's demographics whenever it has bothered to try.
Evil cities arent evil because they rape dead babies on the streets all day. They are because everyone is incredibly selfish and willing to perform constant, casual evil acts against others for their own benefit, like lying to you, cheat you, steal from you, harm you, extort you etc.

>>96376016
>Small evil acts are still evil
And they aren't enough to completely change your alignment on their own.
>Evil cities arent evil because they rape dead babies on the streets all day.
Anon, evil cities like the yuan-ti and drow strongholds murder, rape, and steal from each other on the daily. The only thing keeping them from population collapse is their insane birthrate.

>>96376016
Anon D&D evil is meant to be almost cartoonishly evil. It's supposed to be one-dimensional to justify player whole-sale slaughtering evil races without needing to think about it.
"Evil" in D&D isn't a small theives guild causing trouble, it the goblins in goblin-slayer, completely irredeemable 99% of the time.

>>96376016
You are basically mixing evil and Evil.

Small "evil" guys are those who are at best a little south of neutral and can't be assed to actually put in any effort. That's you average cheating merchant, street thief, city guard bully and so on. They genuinely believe they are decent to good people, on which they are wrong, and either get to some neutral plane upon death where they get to waffle for some time before their soul get melted back into the fabric of the multiverse, or if they did manage some more heinous acts they get sent to Hell or Abyss and get raped in the ass and then eaten. Because they didn't really put any actual effort into their evil and thus only good as a snack and a hole.

Big "Evil" guys either know that they are bad or absolutely delusional about what they are doing. The mildest you are going to get here are brutal tyrants who nevertheless raise the standard of living in their countries as a point of pride and assassins who are okay with killing absolutely anyone, including their mothers, if the price is right but do not do any collateral damage because it is unprofessional. Almost everyone else would be way worse until you get way down the list to actual demons with brains who go out of their way to do something special. A chunk of people in this category may be able to get a job as a fiend of some kind upon their death. As in they will get rewarded for doing Evil, but you need to put a lot of effort into it.

Similarly to paladins and other genuinely Good people those who actually manage to solidly land into second category are pretty damn rare. You need not only have little morals, but also have a genuine drive to advance your agenda and have enough skill to back it up. It's hard work being Evil.

>>96375406
hey
hey anon
do you see on your character sheet where it says alignment?
its there because humans can be evil
inhuman is exactly what evil isnt.
chow

>>96376231
>>96376112
>>96376095

>You are basically mixing evil and Evil.
No i am not. This is straight from the BoED.
In the very preface of the book it warns agains using the Evil as you describe it sparingly unless you want the bleakest of campaigns because the very contents of the book as far as items, feats prestige classes etc are not the typical evil found in a dnd world

>>96376321
>anon accidentally links a page that hurts his claim
Kek

>>96376321
Anon, the page you linked is about how to use non-evil opponents and how many of the acts you claim make someone "evil" aren't necessarily evil. Literally undermining your own argument with one page.

>>96376378
>>96376393
It is literally a list of evil acts and their interpretations, most of which i used in my examples like lying, stealing and harming others.
There wasn't any nuance to be found in my examples, so i dont see how this hurts my argument.
Your entire counterarguments are centered around the fact that something has to be super evil to be evil, while i am saying that they dont have to be. Small evil acts aren't neutral. They are still evil.
Either way i have stated my case and now i will civilly stop responding because it's obvious we disagree and i have nothing more to add to the subject.

>>96376453
You know you just opened yourself up to getting trolled right? Showing weakness on the internet is like bleeding in front of a shark.

>>96376598
We're in a thread discussing D&D 3.5. No one here is below the age of 27. A nontrivial number of us probably have children of the target age for D&D. We can have a moderate sense of decorum here.

>>96376453
I agree with this, you can be evil or chaotic evil without being extreme. Killing someone, and killing 100 people are both evil, it is just different degrees. Stealing a copper or all of someone's gold deprives them of their hard earned coin they need for their livelihood, but once again it is degrees. Although stealing a few coppers isn't diabolical, it is certainly not good and I don't know how that could be neutral.

>>96376608
>We're in a thread discussing D&D 3.5. No one here is below the age of 27
I'm 19, but I didn't make any of the posts you replied to.

I'm not sure how the rules for targeting characters in total concealment work. In particular the part which says:

>you can attack into a square that you think he occupies
I of course understand this from the perspective of a character in the world, but at the table you can obviously see where the minis are at all times, so what exactly does this translate to in practice? What can and can't you target?

>>96377719
I assume it's on the DM's part to take the miniature off the table and kinda keep track of where it moves in his head and not within the actual view of the players?

>>96377864
That sounds insane. What if I have to keep track of 10 skeletons and a lich in a dark room? Also, some characters have dark vision, some don't, so that doesn't even really work all that well even if I could keep all that shit in my head.

>>96377896
Idfk man, I suppose the rule just kinda assumes your player will not "meta-game" (which obviously won't realistically work in a casual table) and pretend like they can't see the miniature.
I don't know what else to tell you.

>>96377909
>Yes, I will proceed to waste my turn attacking absolutely nothing for the sake of roleplay
I mean, I guess... It would make sense if it was like "you can only attack an opponent if something gives his position away", but the wording just makes it feel like there's more to it than that.

>>96377943
There's definitely more to that. Unfortunately it's one of those cases that the writers did not bother to elaborate on (as far as I'm aware of. Maybe they have added something in errata?)
Idk, Homebrew it? Something like "Roll 1d6, and if it's a 6, I allow you to correctly guess the square"?
I'd offer some more insight if I could.

Do people still actually play 3.5e? For years, I've seen it as an amazing character builder but nothing more.

>>96377962
In an actual table, with miniatures and all that? Last time was like 2 years ago.
Otherwise, I DM short-stories and play-by-posts for IRL friends who can't be bothered to gather up for actual sessions.

>>96377960
That's fine.
>"Roll 1d6, and if it's a 6, I allow you to correctly guess the square"?
This still feels unsatisfying to me because its another roll on top of the 50% miss chance. I think I will just keep my gut feeling and make it so you can only meaningfully attack if something gives an enemy position away (noise, getting attacked yourself, brief flashes of light from spells, etc.)

I'm just glad it's not just me. I have been looking this up online for like an hour and I don't see any discussion about it, so I was starting to think I was missing something really obvious.

>>96377896
Just don't let the players look at the board then, but keep it for your own reference. Hell, blindfold them if it's dark.

>>96377962
Been playing since January 2022.
It's pretty damn cool.

>>96377980
>play-by-posts
PbP is so underrated.
I should join a PbP game, it's been a while since I've played in one.

>>96378066
>play-by-posts
It's the only way to get them to play at the moment, and at least the campaign is moving (instead of not moving at all).

>>96377719
Presumably they can hide the mini, or reveal it if you make a Listen check.

>>96377896
are you familiar with the game battleship? they have some innovative piece hiding technology in it

>>96377896
You make a second, smaller, battlemap and hide it behind the screen. Invisibility is nothing. Illusionists is where shit starts getting fucked - they can literally replace the battlefield. And if they use shadow bullshit...

>>96378076
>and at least the campaign is moving
That's good.
I don't see Play by Post/Async RP as a replacement for playing in real time, I doubt anybody does, but I do think it's pretty dope way to play.
It's a pretty different experience when you have hours to consider your next move and write elaborate descriptions for everything.

>>96379050
There are certainly times where you start to see the allure of theater of the mind over minifigs, but then you remember that most people can't keep 10+ moving parts straight in their head and a group certainly can't keep them straight amongst each other without some sort of rubric.

Say you allow flaws (maybe even dragon mag flaws) and PCs have to take them at first level if they take them at all, BUT instead of taking the 2 bonus feats at 1st level, they could hold them in reserve and choose to use them whenever they leveled up?

>>96388022
At a certain point you might as well start asking if the player can give the DM $50 and just get a bonus feat. If your players are feat-starved or feel like their characters only function with a little extra juice there's better ways around it.

>>96388022
There's already a system from level-limited extra feats: Anti-Feat from KoK(not the 3e version, the 3.5e version).
Anti-feats are just the core feats with the opposite effect(so anti-Skill Focus would provide a skill penalty). Players can tak up to their level in anti-feats and for every 2 anti-feats, they can get an extra feats. Anti-feats aren't chosen by the player, they must be rolled for on a chart.

>>96389930
Not that anon, but
>KoK
Kalamar?
That sounds very interesting, is that in the Player's Guide?

>>96389950
It's in the villains handbook. Don't get the 3e version, it has zero editing. The 3e is also often mislabeled as 3.5e, so look to see if it has the wizards of the coast stamp, the 3.5e version doesn't have it. Wizards didn't renew their liscense with kalamar for 3.5e

>>96390185
Got it. Thanks.

>>96388329
>If your players are feat-starved or feel like their characters only function with a little extra juice there's better ways around it.
Yeah that's what I feel about for most "flaw" subsystems in general; they don't really add much to the gameplay. I get the appeal of getting more power for disadvantages (basically an option for autistic specialization), but in practice it feels the same from just leveling up normally.
The best types of these IMO are like vows/taboos that adds gimmicks to your roleplay. The ones in Exalted Deed or the Wu Jen class from Complete Arcane are good examples (even though the bonuses is kinda underwhelming).

Planar Exchange sounds like a sick ass spell.

Planar Exchange, Lesser
>Casting Time: 1 round
>Range: 0 ft.
>Effect: One called creature
>Duration: 1 round/level (D)
>When you cast this spell, you call a celestial brown bear (MM 269), celestial griffon (MM 139), fiendish dire ape (MM 62), or fiendish tiger (MM 281), at your option, to your precise location. At the same instant, you are transported to that creature's home plane, where you exist in stasis for the duration of the spell. ...bla bla bla
>
>A celestial creature (MM 31) called by this spell gains damage reduction 5/magic; resistance to acid 5, cold 5, and electricity 5; spell resistance equal to its HD +5; and a smite evil attack that provides a bonus equal to its HD on one damage roll.
>
>You have full control over the creature's actions and can perceive the environment around the called creature as if you were seeing through its eyes, hearing through its ears, and so on.
>
>While in stasis, you can't take any actions other than to control the called creature or to dismiss the spell, nor can anything on the creature's home plane affect you in any way. You also can't perceive anything around your body's location. When you dismiss the spell, or when the creature is slain, you appear in the creature's location, and it is returned to its home plane.

Planar Exchange
>This spell functions like lesser planar exchange, except as noted here. You trade places with an avora guardinal (MM 141), bone devil (MM 52), or babau demon (MM 40). The called creature has full access to all its abilities, with one exception: A demon or devil you conjure can't summon other creatures. If the creature is slain, you take 3d6 points of damage and the spell ends.

What are some fun ways to use this spell besides the obvious?
Metamagic to cast it on familiar or something?

>>96392238
Combo it with Contingency (Time Domain Cleric) and trigger it on reaching HP 0, so you'd be out of there and still function as a threat and/or escape?

>>96327918
What cleric spells give miss chances against other people?

>>96394055
Blink Greater and Improved (Celerity)
Blur (Celerity)
Displacement (Illusion)
Mirror Image* (Illusion - Technically not a miss chance, but functionally similar).
Also any spell that will make you ethereal, although weaker than Blink.

Are there existing rules for resolving the outcome of a battle that happens "off table"? I know the stat blocks, equipment, and headcount of both the allied & enemy forces, so I'd like to determine a battle outcome fairly without playing out the entire actual battle or making up random results. Quick background: the players are sending a force of soldiers they trained & equipped to fight in a battle they will not be participating in themselves. At the moment, all I can think of is to total each forces CR and compare the numbers, but I don't know where to go from there to determine a victor/casualties/injuries

>>96395314
IIRC Complete Warrior goes into batlefield management? It's been a long while, but there definitely are rules written down for it somewhere

>>96292037
They also have great outsiders and Pathfinder fey are genuinely scary.

>>96395314
check out a pdf called dnd war. It's a decent homebrew thats around 20 pages. Unfortunately under the new status quo i cant post the pdf so you get the link to the blog instead
>https://olddungeonmaster.com/2012/12/30/dd-wars-mass-combat-rules/

So like I could do a home brew for a modern day Forgotten Realms or Eberron right?

>>96399322
Nothing stops you from homebrewing whatever you want.

I'm about to run my first game as a DM for a party of five level 1 players. I plan on running the howling horde module for our first Adventure and then running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft once they reach level 6. Can anyone give me some good modules I can run that can get them from level 2 to level 6?

>>96334884
nigga does that skeleton have ears?

>>96400973
I think it's just hanging it from 26.The Zygomatic Bone.

>>96400973
Honestly I'm more concerned with the gold cross necklace hanging so low.

>>96400973
It's AI, why are you surprised

>>96397623
Thanks for this, I like what he did with siege weapons so I'll likely use that for an upcoming battle
>>96399322
Mechanically it shouldn't be so hard, a 'Drive' skill, a 'Use Technological Devices' skill and some stats for modern types of guns will get you most of the way there. The lore would be the real challenge, a "How do Red Wizards respond to fighter jet attacks?" type of business

>>96399322
I'd suggest looking at d20 Modern material to strip for parts, though there's not actually much you'd need to change for Eberron because it's already proto-industrial.

>>96402994
>>96400262
>>96405305
Yeah that makes sense I can imagine eberron just being a WW1 type deal.

With a modern day Eberron or forgotten realms with guns and anything to do how the modern world with magic would work?
Eeeh, magic nuclear reactors and some electricity use here and there

>>96406026
I recommend looking up a 3rd party 3.5 setting called "Iron Kingdoms". It's a flintlock steamplunk setting with guns, robots, and power armor.
Another good one is Dragonmech. You fight colossal moon dragons with city-buster mecha. Pacific Rim stole the idea for its central premise from this setting.

>>96406720
>Iron Kingdoms
Still love the setting and game, but too bad the company is shite since late Mk.2.

>>96407508
>but too bad the company is shite
Still can't believe they abandoned D20 to make a shitty warhammer ripoff. They were already dancing on the line with a number of their setting elements(except the elves, they're literally just 40k eldar and they didn't bother to hide it).

>>96407516
>shitty warhammer ripoff
Honestly the wargame made more money for company than d20, and it wasn't a Warhammer ripoff but more like a simplified & streamlined Mechwarriors (if you consider the focus/fury to be replacement for heat). Honestly I still like it than any GW-shit, but they tried to simplify it even more for normies in 2nd Edition (MK.2) and the veterans just moved to Infinity and/or Bolt Action for the autistic complexity.

>elves
The thing about the elves in that setting I like is that they're getting screwed over by human arcane spell casters, because their gods are allegedly getting sucked dry every time a human mage uses arcane magic.

>>96406720
>Dragonmech
>City Buster Mecha
>Pacific Rim pulled a theft from a cool dnd like game
I’m interested already.
Btw city buster means it’s fucking huge right?

>>96410469
>city buster means it’s fucking huge right?
Yes. The name is "City-Mech" in universe, because the mech is large enough to hold an entire city inside. Said mechs have multiple size classifications within the "City-Mech" range, going from A to E, and each increase is double the size of the previous.

Can you activate a spell-storing weapon if you throw it? It can only be applied to melee weapons, but some melee weapons are also throwing weapons.

>>96412184
Its activation only cares that "the weapon strikes a creature and the creature takes damage from it". There's also no text about the exclusive entries in the roll tables being incapable of being applied to others, leading to quite a few discussions of shenanigans with ammunition.

Is all positive energy applied to a living healing or is there such a thing as positive energy damage separated from healing?
Aside the whole exploding from excess exposure to positive energy, that is.

>>96412627
I have never seen positive energy damage for non-undead
I think the game just uses light spells for that kind of thing, like sunbeam/sunburst, and the damage isnt typed

>>96412627
Positive energy actually has 2 major forms of damage: Overhealing and Mutation.
If you're on the positive energy plane for example, you can heal over your maximum HP because the plane is stuffing you with energy. If you accumulate more the double your base HP this way, your character immediate explodes and dies.
Mutation happens when you're exposed to an aberrant for of possitive energy, like the elder evil Ragnorra. You gain extra HP like above, but it also deals a kind of reverse negative-level. There are no possitive or negative effects for these corrupted levels until they equal your hit dice, but as soon as that happens you become an aberration under GM control.

>>96412651
That's as far as I know too.

>>96412734
>Mutation
Alright, that's a new one.
Interesting.

>>96412627
Yes. Core alone has the Disrupt Undead spell + the ravid's Positive Energy Lash, which harm undead but have no effect on living creatures

>>96413052
Awesome.
What about positive energy that damages normal living creatures?

>>96407516
>They were already dancing on the line with a number of their setting elements
What do you mean? The Weaver... I mean Cyriss is totally an original idea with no prior inspiration!

>>96262496
I had an autistic faggot ruin my campaign 3 sessions in once because I didn't let him play a level 1 Paladin that had enchanted acid armor and owned a dragon mount. This was before 5E mind you, so the "I AM SPESHUL" players are not new to the hobby. He was a grown man as well.

>>96292514
>I would like for the base classes to be more viable but i still wouldnt chose pathfinder over 3.5 for them
Look up Variant Classes and Alternative Class Features. There's more than enough to make every class viable, and they are all supported officially.

>>96413932
>acid armor
>dragon mount
See if he was stupid enough, I would of gave him anything but a green dragon and let the armor fucking kill the dragon while he was riding it.

>>96413982
Or have the acid armor irritate the dragon, and then buck him off 700 feet in the air.

>>96413962
>Variant Classes
>Alternative Class Features
One interesting thing about 3.5 is that the first half of the run focused on a game design by having level up options (i.e.Prestige classes mostly), and the latter focused more on giving starting options (i.e. Hybrid classes, alternative mechanic classes, monster races, etc.). Although the latter was never in the level of Pathfinder.
I wonder if they felt that the original prestige class mechanic was poorly implemented, and that's why 3.5 "off-shoots" went with talent trees (i.e. SW saga edition) to make it more appealing.

>>96414058
>Although the latter was never in the level of Pathfinder.
You can also just surgically transplant them into 3.5 perfectly fine.

>>96413962
Love ACFs and Variant Classes.
Also, substitution levels.
Actually, I'm not insane right? You can get more than one ACF as long as the features they lose don't clash, and you are not forced to take all substitution levels, you can take, say, 2 of 3 if you so desire.

>>96410469
>>96411267
Dragonmech has great ideas and fluff but mechanics are a fucking mess.

>>96414347
As long as your GM allows and if the variant description doesn't say that it's not allowed, yeah.

Alternative Class features are designed with that in mind, so as long as it doesn't conflict it's all right.
Variant classes though it might have some restrictions or freedoms. Totem Barbarians from Unearth Arcana, for example, tells you specifically to choose one totem and you go with that for the rest of the character's progression.
Specialist Wizards you can only take one specialist class, but can mix and match the bonuses and restrictions of your specialist abilities with that of the normal wizard. (although the wording is probably meant to be for GMs for their campaign ideas rather than the players customizing willy-nilly).

Substitutions are also correct, but you have to make that choice on the timing of the level up and that's it.