Thread 96434718

For discussion of D&D 3.0 and 3.5e

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>3e Resource Index Version 2024-04-17
https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92491374/#92530275
Previous thread: >>96245441
Thread Question: What's the most memorable antagonist your party faced?

>>96434718 (OP)
TQ: A cult leader from underground city that served some Far Realm monstrosity. He was supposed to be a great and terrible evil, but he wasn't memorable because of that. No. The dice hated him. He literally failed each and every actually important roll during confrontation. Attacks, spells, saves. It was like Fate itself decided "fuck this guy in particular and the horse he rode on".

So instead of a terrible foe we got to fight a bumbling fool, that managed to slip in grease, barely crawled out of it, got slammed by a fighter into the wall, flailed around with his weapons ineffectively, got disarmed and slam dunk into the ground, got peppered by rays of enfeeblement, all of his attempted spells failed and the fighter drove him through the table before carving him up like a turkey in the end.

>>96434718 (OP)
One of the main reoccurring antagonists that gets brought up at least once a month is a NPC that used to be a PC that betrayed the party long before my character joined, years ago IRL.

>>96434918
>Fate itself decided "fuck this guy in particular and the horse he rode on".
Beautiful thing about Table-Top RPGs. When your boss is underwhelming because of the dice fumbling, while that lv1 Goblin encounter becomes legendary due to multiple-crits scored by that one Goblin.

For antagonists do people make custom bad guys? Nowadays me being lazy I just pick the default stat block from the bestiaries and if they survive they get a template or a class (rinse & repeat per surviving).

So, last thread, it was suggested that you should ban core for a balanced game with the exception of core feats but what about spells? Wouldn't classes like the shugenja, warmage, healer, etc. lose out a lot while psionics would remain untouched.

>>96436181
>but what about spells?
The core spells are the main problem and the main reason people say "Ban Core" in the first place. It's not like wizards and sorcerers are overwhelmingly more powerful that Sha'ir, it's that Time Stop, Contingency, and Polymorph are overpowered.

>>96436181
Psionic limitation on the amount of PP you can spend per power is a way stronger limitation than spell slots. You can fuck it over but for that you either need a very high level of some shenanigans that most DMs won't allow you to get away with.

Arguably D&D plays way better if you mostly remove standard casters and leave only alternative magic systems - Incarnum, Binders, Psionics, Warlocks and so on. If you want some bullshit effects especially with permanency they are way better done through ritual Incantations.

>>96438185
The main issue with psionics is that they have a million and one ways to refresh their entire PP pool between encounters, a thousand and one more ways to fuck over the action economy with any of the abilities that manipulate time(create in-universe save files, unlimited standard actions per turn, throw things outside of time, etc), and finally a hundred way to break character building by reshuffling all the stats/skills/etc, giving themselves all the psionic powers in the game, or even breaking the xp system completely.
>>96436181
Easiest fix is to ban the psionics books too. Alt-magic is fine by itself.

Let's talk about Dragonmech a little more.

In my personal opinion the best approach would be to make mechs as vehicles but replace the 10 feet sections with more abstract free size pieces. So, say a mech would have engine, weapons, controls and so on, plus of course it would have to use maneuverability rules for vehicles especially if it is super large.

So say a Huge mech would have up to 8 Large pieces filled for example with - reinforced armor (2), engine (1), reinforced cockpit (1), two arms/weapons (2), secondary weapon tower (1) and cargo container (1). As with vehicles you can attack each of the sections separately and it will have its own HP. Plus you can add further subdivisions for each part if say you want smaller weapons, some crew quarters for long hauls and so on. Make internal parts that can't be directly attacked outright take more space.

On city sized mechs you would have also residential areas as modules where people actually live and so on.

Attacks are probably best to be relegated to siege engine style - each weapon/arm has its own number of attacks or abilities but uses driver or gunner BAB and skills. You can add places for people to attack from like on normal vehicles but with shit like 10 hardness and 50+ HP of armor even on smaller mechs it wouldn't be very effective unless those guys are of decently high level and in that case you probably have better uses for them than glorified turrets.

I'd like some feedback on this homebrew feat. Is it overpowered? Underpowered?

"Cross Study I (Homebrew). Each time you select this arcana, you may choose a number of spells equal to your int modifier from among any spell casters spell list. You are then able to learn and cast those spells normally as if they were on your own class spell list, while ignoring domain requirements as well as divine focus requirements when casting them. You must still learn these spells from a mentor, scroll, or spellbook as normal and scribe them into your spellbook before you may prepare and cast them."

>>96439847
That's pretty damn brutal depending on the class you are playing. if it's wizard only as implied it wouldn't make them much more powerful but does ease some of the exploits they can get up to. For non-wizard classes, especially partial casters with limited spell lists, it goes pretty hard.

>>96439847
There are some spells that are 100% worth a feat, so pretty dope.
I like it that you need to find the spell first, so you could feasibly be in a situation where you stumble onto a really cool spell, then you consider taking the feat.

>>96440018
Thanks for the feedback, I nerfed it by adding a spell level cap but expanded it to be not just a wizard exclusive feat.

"Cross Study I (Homebrew). Each time you select this feat, you may choose three spells from among any spell casters spell list. You may only choose spells of up to third level and below. You are then able to learn and cast those spells normally as if they were on your own class spell list. Arcane spellcasters may ignore any domain or divine focus requirements for these chosen spells, though divine spellcasters must still meet them. You must still learn these spells from a mentor, scroll, or spellbook as normal for your class, before you may prepare and cast them."
>I like it that you need to find the spell first
Me too, this is for a campaign setting where ALL spellcasters do not receive ANY spells on level up and must acquire them within the game itself - I thought it was a great idea from the developers

>>96438376
>The main issue with psionics is that they have a million and one ways to refresh their entire PP pool between encounters
Almost all of them are solved by making Bestow Power below-standard-cost but actually transfer PP from the manifester's pool to another. Though the wording to exclude bag-of-rat Mindfeeder laundering gets a bit weird.

>a thousand and one more ways to fuck over the action economy with any of the abilities that manipulate time
Involved, feat-intensive, PP-hungry, and with very sketchy in-universe logic. Even so, not much more of a problem than spamming max-PP Powers is to begin with; that is, dependent on the DM making the grave mistake of pinning everything on One Big Fight without follow-up pressure.

>and finally a hundred way to break character building by reshuffling all the stats/skills/etc
Psychic Reformation is actually more restrictive than the PHB2 retraining rules (which DO cover fucking with ability scores) and costs 50 XP per level back you want to redo.

>giving themselves all the psionic powers in the game
Not remotely conveniently, Psychic Chirurgery is a 9th-level Power on a Discipline list that costs a mad 1,000 XP per Power level and needs somebody who knows the Power to pull it from, while Power Research still takes 200 XP and a week per Power level without the ability to access other lists.

>or even breaking the xp system completely
...Compared to nested Thought Bottles whatever TO bullshit has dug this into your brain is nothing.

In summary, skill issue.

>>96438723
I feel obligated to point toward Stronghold Builder's Guidebook for a sadly-price-inflated subsystem for building layouts that could be looted for parts, either as a translation layer or direct conversion into the Dragonmech price and staffing conventions.

Current party: ardent, warblade, warmage, wildshape ranger, and archivist

>>96442777
This. Psionics are bad but they're not as bad as spells.

>>96442777
>Almost all of them are solved by making Bestow Power
You'll also need to ban the psicarnum feats and the power-point steal enchantment. These are only the ones I know off the top of my head, the list of houserules will likely be ever-increasing until you finally do the smart thing and ban psionics entirely.
>Involved, feat-intensive, PP-hungry, and with very sketchy in-universe logic.
Anon, having infinite standard actions only requires you be a level 10 ardent with the linked power feat. The save game trick only requires a psicrystal, 4 psionic powers, and(optimally, but not required) a wizard in the party willing to cast status and imbue with spell like ability.
You can have both with little to no investment. Both have very solid raw and need to be houseruled. They're also not the only big action-economy exploits, just the ones off the top of my head.
>Psychic Reformation
>Psychic Chirurgery
>Thinks they're the only issue
Kek
>...Compared to nested Thought Bottles whatever TO bullshit has dug this into your brain is nothing.
Anon, comparing a nuclear blast to The Sun will make the nuke look pathetic.
That doesn't mean a nuke isn't a fucking problem when someone drops one on your house.
Oh you swee

>>96443191
>Oh you swee
WTF is this from and why is it here? I'm the one who typed it and even I don't know.

>>96443416
You were swiped by Candlejack, obviously.
That's the kind

>>96443440
Pretty sure anon is asking why letters he didn't remember typing showed up in his post. Kind of the exact opposite of the meme really. Bro got fucking pranked by his own subconscious.

>>96443191
>You'll also need to ban the psicarnum feats and the power-point steal enchantment.
The Azure Talent/Psicarnum Infusion combo takes three feats for remotely timely use, only covers a paltry trickle of PP, while the Midnight Augmentation feedback is dependent on Bestow Power. Mindfeeder was already mentioned, as again it causing problems is largely from laundering through Bestow Power, which handily catches Azure Talent recharge in the process of wording around "temporary" PP.

>Anon, having infinite standard actions only requires you be a level 10 ardent with the linked power feat.
Assuming the DM allows Synchronicity into the Time Mantle through the Substitute Powers ACF. That's less RAW than Arcane Swordsage game-breaks, you may as well be talking about Pun Pun inventing arbitrary new abilities with Manipulate Form.

>The save game trick only requires a psicrystal, 4 psionic powers
Which entails one feat while a single manifestation of each of those four powers is 30 PP and 15 XP. As for RAW, Time Hop is unambiguous about the target acting on its NEXT turn, while Forced Dream only operates on the turn it's Manifested; these cannot be fulfilled simultaneously to execute the save-point.

>Psychic Reformation
>Psychic Chirurgery
>Thinks they're the only issue
What other sources of additional Powers Known does a stock Psion have, Advanced Tattoo arrangements?

>Anon, comparing a nuclear blast to The Sun will make the nuke look pathetic.
The difference is that the horseshit of resetting XP is a directly-stated function of Thought Bottles. Cheating XP costs is overtly a thing they are FOR. If you're referring to curing level loss after spending XP, that's a general mechanical flaw in the system rather than at all specific to Psionics and one it requires significant hoops and very high level Powers to tap into.

>>96442784
Well, Dragonmech proper has a different problem. It's too fucking cheap - a gargantuan mech, though with pretty shitty stats, but made out of steel and with steam engine costs ~7k gp. Arguably with the benefits it provides it actually does cost that price. Since 22 strength on a 40 ft. speed gargantuan monster with average maneuverability and with damage that can be easily beaten by a level 6 fighter is horrible shit. But still its kinda sad.

>>96444759
Anon, that's for a generic base-model with no mechanical upgrades, magical enhancements, or spell-infusions. If your willing to drop a kingdoms worth of dosh, you can very much make a strength 50 mech that can outrun the flash. The cost wuld bankrupt a small kingdom though, so start moon-dragon hunting like a proper cogboy.

>>96447767
I mostly have a problem with the fact that something like 20 tons of steel costs similar to 4-5 full plates and can't fight its own way out of a paper bag.

When should you say this town with an 800gp limit is out of CLW/Lesser Vigor wands and Healing Belts? Like 1d3 available per month? per season?

>>96448674
PF has more reasonable rules about how this works

>>96448674
Does it have a native production capability or do they import them? If there are clerics around who know how to make them they have no reason to stop, short of running out of ingredients. And ingredients for the wands should be mostly some kind of healing plants and similar stuff with above average positive energy. Though if they create them out of plants their production would be tied to seasons - they would be able to make them from spring to autumn. Unless it's a more serious operation and they built a greenhouse.

>>96448708
>If there are clerics around who know how to make them they have no reason to stop, short of running out of ingredients.
Or XP. If they're in town every day they're likely not earning much.

>>96448247
It gets even funnier when you realize that dragonmechs of the same size get their shit rocked by tinker-gnome contraptions from dragonlance. A clockwork gundam is 100% something those autistic fuckers would do as well.

>>96450119
>XP required for crafting items
Meta-gamplay-wise this is solely to stop players from farming gold by just crafting items, and to encourage actual hack & slash adventure to gain magic items rather than just crafting.
In-universe-wise there was no explanation in the fluff that crafters of magic items put their "souls" or "memories" into the items, right (at least like in general, exempting unique items)? To my mind that's the only thing that can represent XP in the universe.

>>96450119
They probably get good roleplaying bonus XP for staying in character in town all day

>>96452149
Ahahah. Someone said the likes of Kings face a lot of hard, high-stakes social checks that would count as encounters for XP and so SHOULD actually be fairly high level.

I'd say especially busy days healing would count for XP.

>>96452624
I'm torn, because on one hand I'm fond of high level ex adventurer kings like Conan. On the other hand, I know that XP shouldn't apply to NPCs, otherwise you wind up with high level slaughter house workers due to all of the pigs and chickens they keep killing

>>96454781
a child gets exp for bringing in a particularly hefty set of groceries; an adult wouldn't

>>96454781
you dont get as much exp from encounters that are way easier due to circumstances
a butcher would get very little, but then again there should be something to simulate their ease with killing living creatures and their experience with cutting meat; more than one medieval revolutionary leader was a butcher beforehand

How much damage should exposure to boiling water inflict? I was thinking,1d6 fire damage per gallon of water for each round of exposure

>>96452624
>>96454781
I like having real divine right of kings in my D&D, when monarchs of established kingdoms have "by the grace of god" in their titles it's not just a set phrase or means some deity just OK'd it, they're literally backed by lawful deities who grant them powerful divine boons, amongst other things specifically to prevent some chucklefuck adventurers from assassinating them easily.

>>96434718 (OP)
Sell me on why I should play 3.5 instead of OSR or 5e.

>>96456525
I'm pretty sure it should be 1d6 period. If there is a lot of water it will just make saves harder (assuming the character isn't covered completely). Boiling water just doesn't rate compared to all the other ways you can use to kill people. It's good enough for killing commoners or a good way to torture someone for a very long time if they have a high level.

>>96457081
Mechanics.

>>96457081
Depth of character customization through feats and prestige classes, huge variety of supported content through OGL, the parity of mechanics between PCs and NPCs makes it extremely modular for DMs, and the nature of the bonus/penalty math allows for easy improvisation of situational rewards.

>>96457081
>Sell me on why I should play 3.5 instead of OSR or 5e.
3.5e vs 5e is that you have more subsystems you can use both a GM and Player. 5e is okay as a basic dungeoncrawl, but can't really do anything else at the moment. The astonishing thing is 5e is 11 years running now, which is longer than 3.0~3.5 combined of 8 years, but only has around 50 official books while 3.0~3.5 has over 500 official books. WTF Wizards make more books!

3.5e vs OSR is if you want more generalization & customization versus specialization. Weird thing about a lot of OSR systems are that even the original TSR-stuffs were more generalized than them. For example, Basic D&D allows you to be merchant if you want in one of their supplements, but to do that OSR a lot designers make a game/setting specifically for that experience. I guess it kinda makes sense, because it's more profitable to go for the niche market than competing in the generic systems area.

>>96456607
nightmarish

why not just make kings be lawful clerics and paladins

>>96458512
They effectively are, but instead of training and adventuring they get most of their levels/HD by birthright.
Anyway it has only ever come up maybe like 3 times in all of my campaigns where I used the concept.

>>96458641
I can't get behind gods giving people levels/HD. I had an idea where worthy rulers can wear the crown, which is an artifact that makes you more powerful, but will hurt or kill anyone unworthy that tries to wear it.

>>96458684
>I can't get behind gods giving people levels/HD
Start undermining the monarchy right now, sabotage the church, the revolution begins with you.

>>96434718 (OP)
>What's the most memorable antagonist your party faced?
A halfling monk-sorcerer with 16 Strength named Garret who chased them around trying to steal the MacGuffin sword for most of the campaign. His escapes got kind of ridiculous but I rolled for them all and he would always be sacrificing a dozen or more goblins to hold the line for him to run away. Eventually he added his brother Oswald and sister Henrietta to the roster, enlisting them for help. I don't remember their classes. Eventually, the characters made it to some desert temple where they learned the sword has the power to sunder a Far Realm gate enchanted to be impregnable otherwise. They also learned the real BBEG's name, and that he had hired Garret to draw the PCs to the south, far away from the gate, so they wouldn't hear about the rumors of weird things happening in the mountains. Basically to get the one item that could destroy it as far away as possible. Anyway they eventually killed Garret, by stabbing him in the head with a rapier crit, captured his sister but eventually let her go. I don't remember what happened to Oswald I think he died as well. He was not a very good character, all he did was cast magic missiles while his goblin hordes waded in. Still a pretty fun character, I guess I was more creative back then because now I would never imagine using such a terrible build concept for a villain.

Many weeks ago I posted about giving my 3rd level party a 7-headed hydra encounter. It took a long time to get to it but here's the rundown of how it went.
>they explore a ruined castle and find a few hidden switches that open the locks to the vault where the loot and hydra are located
>along the way they find many pools of volcanic acid, shards of broken obsidian from inclusions on the ceiling of the cavern, and a large working portcullis, as well as an ancient gladius in an armory, which they take to present as proof they found this place
>each lock makes a loud click that startles the hydra and causes it to vocalize
>the druid recognizes this sound as being similar to a crocodile
>the second lock causes multiple simultaneous vocalizations
>druid thinks this indicates a pit of multiple crocs
>the NPC gnome trail guide with the group remembers that his tribe told tales of hydras in this area long ago
>the NPC trail guide then leads the other NPC university researcher to a safe place
>the party carefully sets up a rope system to open the last switch to the vault door and leads the hydra to the room with obsidian shards
>the NPC gnome trail guide returns with poisoned monstrous centipede meat to distract the hydra

>>96459523

>they climb up a broken wall and the cleric knocks down a large shard of obsidian from the ceiling with Spiritual Weapon
>the shard hits 4 of the heads and manages to sever all of them
>the NPC gnome trail guide distributes acid splash vials to the group which he filled from the volcanic pools around the area
>they successfully cauterize the 4 heads
>there is no more sufficiently large obsidian to sever heads, only does minor body damage
>one of the players gets bit by a single head for minimum damage
>they lead the hydra to the portcullis and the druid uses a summon to lure it precisely
>they slam the gate onto its necks and the two outer heads chew off the middle one in an attempt to eventually free itself
>the party throws lamp oil onto the stump and lights it
>the heat from the fire weakens the bronze portcullis and the hydra pulls itself free, but the stone wall holding the gate collapses and knocks it unconscious
>the party realizes no one has a bladed weapon to cut off the last remaining heads while it's down
>the NPC university researcher runs out of her hiding spot and uses the gladius from earlier to cut off the remaining heads
>they douse it in acid one final time

>>96459535
Glad it went well! A bit of an ass-pull with the DMPCs but at least they took the bait on the environmental tools to try and trap it. How'd the players feel about it?

>>96459552
they seemed to really enjoy it. I think the NPC killing it off at the end was a fun dramatic choice but it also could have been fun if they just stood up and faught out the last 2 heads.

I'm sorry to say that a big factor leading to that choice was that it was very close to the time one of our players has to leave and we won't be able to play again for several weeks. I really didn't want to break this fight up into two sessions a month apart.

>>96459676
Hey, improv is the name of the game and I've definitely had sessions and arcs defined more by IRL shit than any internal cohesion. I'd say you handled it well, especially with time pressure. Good shit.

>>96459523
>>96459535
>>96459676
Excellent news! I'm impressed they used almost everything you placed at their disposal
How much influence did you have with the NPC? As long as you all had fun then it doesn't matter, but i'm curious as to how much you had to beat them over their head with the idea of not rushing towards their deaths

>>96460661
when they heard him say "hydra" they immediately said that was above their pay grade and were pretty much ready to bail before he reminded them of some of the environmental tools. They made the plan after that. No one had any illusion of fighting it head-on.

>>96434718 (OP)
Several questions:
1 - what one-shot (preferably 1st level) would anons advice for group who wants to try out 3.5/pf1e and only played 5e before?
2 - weird to ask in a 3.5 thread, but why not 3.5 and pathfinder 1e or just pathfinder 1e? What are pros/cons of all 3 choices?
3 - what is the ideal level range you anons prefer? Asking because I remember "E6" being a thing way way back.

>>96463451
1- No idea.
2- I imagine most people do mix both to some extent. PF isn't really a wholesale improvement to 3.5e, most changes are kind of a wash as far as I can tell, so it's to taste.
I like 3.5e material more and I dislike CMB/CMD, some feats, amongst other things from PF so I like 3.5e better as a base. The best thing from PF are some base classes and the bestiaries.
3- My only experience so far has been levels 12 to 15, but I imagine anything under lvl 3 or so would be pretty limiting character option wise, which might be ideal for some types of games, but as far as my preferences, I think around lvl 10.
So maybe a 5 to 15 range.
And yes, E6 is a thing. So is E10 if I'm not wrong.

>>96463451
I think E6 nailed it with the concept of character levels corresponding to the tone of the campaign, where very low levels are gritty realism and 6-10 fall into heroic fantasy. I don't personally like super hero games and thus don't enjoy PCs beyond level 6-8

>>96457081
3.5 is the most simulationist that D&D has gotten, PCs and NPCs/monsters play by the same rules and I find this satisfying.

>>96464769
What? No they don't. NPCs have different limitations on them than PCs do and monsters are almost arbitrary.

>>96464792
What on earth are you talking about?

>>96458512
>why not just make kings be lawful clerics and paladins
Thats what a paladin is in d&d. They aren't actually supposed to be warriors for the faith, thats what clerics are, they're kings and nobility who are so lawful good that the gods bless them with powers(gygax based this on actual mythology).
Doubt most peiple even know the difference anymore though.

>>96454781
>On the other hand, I know that XP shouldn't apply to NPCs
The fuck are you talking about? Xp absolutely applies to npcs, its right in the dmg.
Dms don't track xp because its a headache.

>>96465066
How you construct all 3 is different. NPCs use a different statline and wealth by default. Monsters don't use wealth at all, they use treasure rolls, and the abilities they have, number of HD, and stuff like natural armor are all completely arbitrary, which is never the case for an NPC or PC.

>>96463451
1. Hollow's Last Hope is a PF module but for new players it's a good enough entry. Rare disease hits the town and PCs need to gather some ingredients to cure it. If PCs local they also most likely have sick relatives (which is recommended). You get some overland route planning, some monsters that do not sit on each other's heads and some random encounters in the forest. Nothing spectacular but as an entry module solid enough.
2. PF1e is basically same shit from a different angle. They didn't really make anything better. In fact they fucked up some things pretty hard (I'm looking at you split combat feats). So there is no real reason to actually switch. PF2e is aggressively mediocre with a lot of weird design decisions that don't actually make game better, just more tedious. If I want a different fantasy game I'd better switch to WEG d6.
3. I like E6. You would be surprised how much bullshit you can do in just 6 levels. Especially if you allow some Unearthed Arcana stuff. Though even a Fighter 6 with Core+Complete Warrior can outperform siege engines against castles. While unarmed. And a lot of stuff that wouldn't be considered in a full scale game actually works perfectly fine in E6.

>>96465366
>which is never the case for an NPC or PC.
>Dragons enter the chat
>Non-humanoid pc races enter the chat

>>96465342
Not quite, while certainly helpful to have wealthy sponsors and support networks it doesn't REQUIRE a high-class background and even back in the TSR days they didn't NEED a god in the loop of Celestia-powered Evil-smiting.

>>96465366
This doesn't change that their in-play rules once the statblock is finished are overwhelmingly the same such that very nearly anything that can act upon a player character is coherent to apply to NPCs and monsters. The only remotely typical exceptions are CR/ECL disparity affecting things like Truespeak DCs and XP totals.

>>96434718 (OP)
>Fiend Folio
I love this book like you wouldn't believe

>>96438723
An attempt at a condensed and streamlined Size table for the mechs. Each mech would be divided into 8 smaller pieces with systems plus overall structure, which is basically mech skeleton. Large is 8 medium pieces, Huge is 8 Large pieces and so on.

I don't think I'll need bigger sizes than 600x600x1500 meters. I'll already would need to do rules for how many rounds City mechs need to fall down after losing a leg, if I get that far.

>>96465483
>>96464534
>>96463996
Thanks anons, we'll try out Hollow's Last Hope and if we'll enjoy it, we'll give a shot at a 3.5 campaign.

>>96465483
>You would be surprised how much bullshit you can do in just 6 levels.
I once saw a thread pointing out that there are a handful of ways for E6 characters to access 4th- and 5th-level spells (sometimes requiring convoluted means), and then used this as fuel for worldbuilding.

IIRC the only way in E6 to bring the dead back to life is by getting your hands on a spell trigger item created by an epic monster, then having a lv6 arcane spellcaster with a specific build extract one of its charges, then transferring that charge to a lv6 cleric with another specific build, who finally uses it to generate a single 5th level spell slot and prepare Raise Dead.

>>96466427
Wasn't there an anon a couple threads back trying to kitbash 3rd party books together to worldbuild a xianxia setting in 3.5?

>>96466040
Kaorti's web articles have quite a few overlooked hooks, since all the attention is on x4 crit multiplier as a Special Material.

Anons, How deep into crafting autism have you gone in your games?
I know for a Fact I've seen people compile lists of 1st party mundane augments that could made non-magical items stronger than any magic weapon of the same price and catalogs of every magical enhancement in all WotC official material. Have you ever gone full buildfag like this? Do you have favorite weapon/armor/item recipes? Are there any 3rd party materials that you love for this?

>>96467887
I've compiled the MIC Common Magic Item Effects, weapon and armor enhancement values, Item Set value-added, and user restriction discounts, the PP/day values for Psionic classes including independent-progression PRCs, and various elements of Weapons of Legacy into condensed tables. Though this is for consolidating guidelines for homebrew purposes rather than in-game PC use.

>>96467887
Every time i've tried anything more than making the party a few items or wands on the cheap i received immediate pushback from the DM, or the campaign died right away

>>96467887
>Are there any 3rd party materials that you love for this?
The quintessential series, and AEG's Mercenaries, actually have some nice things for this.
Quintessential Bard especially for some reason. They have an entire section for crafting as an art form(sculpting, architecture, glass-blowing, etc) that has magical effect based on the craft and spell levels your capable of casting. It basically adds another in-between level of customization between base mundane enhancements and magical item properties, by god can you go fucking crazy with it(as in, add effects at every step of manufacture from choosing base material, to weaving the textile to make an outfit, to making the outfit, to adding details like embroidery or carvings, etc).
The person who wrote this Had to be an autistic woman.

>>96467887
We have a resident real life engineer that plays the sort of artificer character that makes all kinds of magic items, including shit like taking reverse engineering the effects of named items to put it on other stuff.
He also has a small army of constructs that buff him on fights.
And a giant beetle tank.
And a flying mechanical horse that shoot lasers.
He's also becoming a robot via GSA levels I think?

>>96468092
>i received immediate pushback from the DM
Most DMs are honestly kinda retarded and terrified of new things. There was a reason that warlocks were decried by the DM community as overpowered muchkin machines for two years straight when they first came out, even though anyone with two braincells understood warlocks were pretty under-powered within a week of actually reading the rules.

>>96467887
I've only DMed for one player with a big interest in it. They were playing an herbalist turned Druid for their character backstory and had even taken a skill focus for it. So I made a list of some common and rare magical herbs, including their qualities, and gave it to them. They were delighted with it and kept making herbal teas (essentially just weak potions) and such to carry around with them on adventures.
In my current solo game I'm playing a wizard who aspires to become a writer, which has sent me down a rabbit hole of crafting autism. I've spent too much time trying to narrow down the estimated base price for a completed book. What I've worked out so far,
>15gp blank spellbook as base, 100 parchment pages with bookbinding expense already added
>with each page filled with text only in black ink, adds roughly 2sp8cp to total
>going by average hand writing speed and average word count per page, it takes our scribe a little under five working days to copy one 100 page book - we'll be very generous and pay him 1gp per day
>the book merchant will also want a profit!
So, depending on how rare a book is and how greedy a book merchant might be, you might expect to pay somewhere between 30gp to 40gp for a common text in circulation. I'm also thinking that the way in game books and knowledge skills interact with each other could be expanded upon

>>96468378
>I'm also thinking that the way in game books and knowledge skills interact with each other could be expanded upon
Look into the 3rd party book "Encyclopedia Arcana: Tomes and Libraries" in the mega link in the first post.
Encyclopedia Arcana is a series of books built on expanding and adding mechanics to the various parts of magic WotC skipped over(and also adding some some completely new kinds of magic, like star magic, sovereign magic, etc.). Tomes and Libraries is what it says on the tin, it explains how libraries and books interact with various skills, feats, and mechanics like crafting.

>>96466040
I am so sad I lost mine.

>>96467887
One of the big things I discovered recently was how the "Master" class Item of Distinction/Renown/Legend/etc bonus worked. It multiplies the masterwork bonus, so mundane effects that build off masterwork bonuses like artisan qualities or even special materials should also apply.(Not sure how it effects item templates from the dmgII or item modifications from complete adventurer/complete scoundrel though. I think they could also be valid, but it's DM call.)
In function, this isn't really as overpowered as it sounds(unfortunately caster supremacy is eternal), but it does make building around entirely non-magical gear completely viable. This is before even getting into Craft(Tinker) from Dragonlance that lets you make a sword that does 1d8+5 base damage (untyped, stacks) with automatic touch-attack and extends to 15 foot reach, which can be masterworked on top.

>Fighter gets 1d20+5, 12/x9, +10 attack enhancement masterwork, +10 damage enhancement, +5 luck, +5d4 bleed, 15 foot reach, touch-attacking oerthblooded dragonmetal Ubermensche sword of Legend
>kills weak enemies in one attack if they get into melee range
>Fighter till explodes on the first round of combat when a caster looks at them funny
To add insult to injury, the average DM will rule the sword is the problem and ban it.

>>96468428
Thank you, that will certainly help

>>96468428
>Tomes and Libraries
There are a few rules in this that you should ignore completely, because they were clearly edited in later for "Balance", despite making zero sense. Example:
>Manuals cannot improve any Craft, Profession or Knowledge skills (except where stated) or grant untrained use thereof.
Manuals are books that can give a bonus to a skill or give temporary ability to use it untrained, just like IRL. However, what are the biggest things people IRL use a fucking MANUAL for? This rule would mean it's physically impossible to make an Ikea assembly guide in greyhawk.
Another shit one is that you permanently forget thinks you learn from a manual when you level up and can never re-learn them every again.
>Side Note
This book unintentionally explains why leveling and feats work the way they do in all D&D settings: the people there are genuinely retarded. They can't permanently learn or remember things without the assistance of eldritch soul magic(what a "level" is in 3.5, "Experience" is actually made of SOULS. Fromsoft's flagshit games were homebrew D&D 3.5 settings)

Currently have a prospective group for a game we're sort of at a session -1 atm determining what kind of game we want to play and I pitched the idea of a sandbox game to the group and the seemed receptive. Obviously a sandbox game requires a lot of of frontloading of effort and currently I'm staring my hex paper and wondering how much detail I should put in prior to a session 0 or 1. I'm considering having the party start in a dungeon environment as captives to set the stage for their collaboration and using how they key off each other to inform my future hooks rather than starting them in a tavern or with a caravan where they can immediately go in any direction. I at least have a baseline to work with.

What I'm thinking I should have prepared:
Initial starting dungeon escape adventure to facilitate cooperation.
General geological layout of the initial hex sheet, rivers, mountains hills to inform placement of later points of interest.
4-5 rough threats / potential background events to reflavor depending on party
4-5 major npcs
Table of rumors
2-3 (each) pre-rolled wilderness + underground + urban encounters to have on hand.
Rough idea of a mega-dungeon pivoting to draw in players based on general party motivators, exploration, mystery, treasure, history, preferred enemies.
2-3 factions within the sandbox
2-3 points of interest in a day's travel upon escaping to the sandbox proper
1. A small village with 2-3 hooks and local problems that could lead to adventures in the local area with a list of 5-10 minor npcs to provide flavor.
2. Ruined monastery / temple or cave if the party is really spoiling for a fight after escaping.
3. Caravan / Traveling performers on their way between major settlements (progressing to initial majority city)
4. A further off "major city" hub with a rough map and outline of different districts and factions the party COULD immediately travel to or have hooks tied to from village.

Does this seem like too much? What would you add or remove?

>>96469411
There's two schools of thought when it comes to sandboxes. As a foundation for a living world that's a decent assortment of prep and none of it "goes bad" even if you have to shuffle some names around to ensure that wherever your party ends up there's shit going on there. Obviously people talk shit at quantum orcs for a reason but you have an infinite world and finite time to prep, you'll want to move the pieces around in the background a bit to align to the party.

That being said, my personal track record with sandboxes is once you know the group you need to prep exactly two things: the thing you know the most proactive person in the player group is going to go towards, and a backup thing you can refluff to be what happens if they do something else. Without the structure of the DM providing quests and texture, groups tend to default to one ringleader leading around a group of people comfortably along for the ride. If your lucky the ringleader won't also be an armchair quarterback for the combat or else you're doing a solo campaign in front of 2-4 additional people.

>>96469458
Yeah definitely, I'm just trying to provide meaning choice for players without leading them by the nose. Might also help if I define what I mean by sandbox since that's just throw around a lot now:

A game with a hexmap with defined points of interest (not a true hexcrawl where the actual traveling between points is the highlight) compare and contrast say elder scrolls III morrowind or Fallout new vegas. No linear arrow you must go here to progress or railroading but creating a set of adventure hooks, factions and locations for players to align with, betray, profiteer off of but with consequences and background events that result from choices or lack of action.

EDIT: I suppose I also borrow quite a bit from the 4e points of light in terms of overland flow, the world is dangerous but great fame and profit is to be made for those of dependable enough stock to brave it. Normal folk fear to travel the deep woods and mountains and only enough travel to facilitate trade is really possible or desired for most peoples.

I do have a few thoughts for deep plots I'd LIKE to run but I'll test those ideas as hooks in smaller villian of the week stories or with npcs or factions first I think.

>>96469491
Woops I'm a retard and forgot to remove that part when crowd sourcing info from another forum.

>>96469491
That's all reasonable, I'm just a jaded person who has seen multiple plans falter in the face of the enemy as the inevitable divide between what the playgroup thinks they want and how they actually play tends to buckle. Assuming the group is new but the players aren't that's less of an issue, and also if it's not a true hexcrawl that does open up some more room for scaffolding.

I've never actually used this manual but this is a cool guide the Alexandrain made. Might help think of ways to populate the map and define points of interest - https://files.catbox.moe/vhy5pr.pdf

>>96469518
>That's all reasonable, I'm just a jaded person who has seen multiple plans falter in the face of the enemy as the inevitable divide between what the playgroup thinks they want and how they actually play tends to buckle. Assuming the group is new but the players aren't that's less of an issue, and also if it's not a true hexcrawl that does open up some more room for scaffolding.

At least one accustomed to playing muh heckin' theater of the mind type games and seems to have had bad experiences with that in the past so I'm definitely hoping to bring a more concrete and grounded style for them. I do also like the idea of having areas loop back on each other so I'm playing with the ideas of an overhead projector sheet to map out underground underdark / deeproads between major areas if I find the group doesn't evaporate before session 5.

Definitely planning for a harsh but fair style of play where the world is deadly but I'm also not going out my way to maliciously target players, part of the reason I'm not a HUGE fan of plants and oozes as they're almost more trap adjacent and either wind up being 1 turn kills or flail around for 3 rounds and die.

Considering also having a link to the past style "dark / mirrored world" to effectively double my map but I want to see how players react the seeds I plant for that.

>>96467887
I always ban crafting in my fantasy games, I want the party to be heroes, not craftsmen. They can hire/befriend/enslave NPCs who do crafting and whatnot. When they want custom items, the basis is they tell the enchanters what they want, and the enchanters reply with what can be done. Stupid "exploit" ideas get shot down immediately.

>>96463451
E6 is sad, one of the game's biggest strengths is that there are so many cool monsters but if you limit it to six levels you'll just be using the same shit people have seen a million times before. If you're going to refuse to use two thirds of a game's content why not just run a different game at that point?

>>96471389
I kinda agree with this. I think it can be a nice variation for people very familiar with 3.X but to suggest it as the best way to play 3e is a bit iffy

Isn't E6 kind of fucking lame with how much it restricts cool PrCs? A chunk of which at best would be sidegrades to just regular advancement?

>>96470567
>"exploit" ideas
Anon, item customization at its most min-maxed will never even approach the amount of bullshit a core caster can do innately. Doing this only hurts martial classes.

>>96472100
Anons, what is the race/template combo in that pic?

>>96467887
In the games I DM for, I encourage diving deep into crafting autism by buffing the fuck out of armor and sheilds for non-casters. The rundown:
All these effects only apply to characters with proficiency.
>Armored warriors are Tankier
Armor's HP is added as temp-hp to the character and it's Hardness and AC bonus applies to attacks against this temp HP(including energy/spell damage).
Precision damage(Crits/Sneak Attack/Skirmish/Iaijutsu Focus/etc) ignore this temp hp.
>Armored Warriors are harder to Hit
Armor(not spells) with an AC of >=4 provide the secondary effects of cover(+2 untyped reflex, Evasion, AoO immunity)
Armor(not spells) with an AC of >=8 provide the secondary effects of Total Cover(+4 untyped reflex, Improved Evasion, Immunity to AoO)
Light Shields(not spells) provide the effects of Concealment(20% miss chance) against opponents in front of the user.
Heavy Shields(not spells) provide the effects Total Concealment(Immunity to direct targeting, area effects have 50% miss chance) against opponents in front of the user.
>Armored Warriors Save Lives
Any bonuses that improve an items saves also apply to the User when placed on armor.
A set of +5 fullplate gives a +5 enhancement bonus to all saves on top of any concealment bonuses.
>Casters and Armor don't mix well
Armor and Shields block line-of-effect for the user(this is on top of any ASF). A wizard casting fireball in fullplate would have the spell go off inside their own armor.
Armor can be modified to avoid this, but modified armor loses All secondary bonuses above and only provides an AC bonus.
This does not affect magic items.
Half-Casters like Paladins and Bards are unaffected by this for their in-class spells. Multi-class and Prestige class spells are effected normally.

The net effect of this is that your average paladin is almost immune to magic, but can get folded by a good rogue(who in turn get folded by full-casters). This puts classes in a rock-papper-scissors situation

>>96472159
I mean I posted it but if I had to make approximation, an Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale with Pseudonatural and Pennaggolan templates seems like a decent fit.

>>96472350
>The net effect of this is that your average paladin is almost immune to magic, but can get folded by a good rogue(who in turn get folded by full-casters). This puts classes in a rock-papper-scissors situation
That's pretty cool.

>>96472150
I meant actual retarded ideas some people try to weasel into the game, like use-activated weapon of true strike

>>96472963
>like use-activated weapon of true strike
Again, run the numbers and see it in play, this is just persisted wraithstrike in another form. The net effects is that this is a nice toy for martials to play with and doesn't actually break the game.

>>96472350
Slap a tabard of valor on that paladin for complete immunity to magic on anything but a nat 1...if it pierces the Total Concealment... and any spell resistance....
Wizards have learned Fear

>>96472350
Feels a little bit over the top complicated for not that much of an effect at higher levels, and I hope you compensate monks/rogues somehow if their level 9/10 ability is buyable for 1500 gp.
The temporary HP sounds like a good idea to reduce the retarded 1-shottability at levels ~1-3, do you have it replenished each fight or does it require repairs to the armor? At higher levels it's probably fairly irrelevant, though maybe it allows tanking an extra hit or two if you're lucky so it's some QoL still.
I don't like the shield ideas because 1) it introduces facing which is awful to handle. 2) it brings even more focus on positioning, I find the default amount of focus on positioning to be just enough.
Bonus to saves from armor enhancement bonus is nice QoL but still woefully inadequate to make any real difference at high levels.
>>96472993
>Again, run the numbers and see it in play, this is just persisted wraithstrike in another form.
Ding ding ding, I couldn't come up with a second example on the spot and that's it. I wouldn't allow persisted wraithstrike or an item that grants permanent wraithstrike without slapping an epic-tier price on it.

>>96473226
>does it require repairs to the armor
Repairing all armor hp just take a level 0 mending cantrip. There are ways to give armor self-repairing functions though(Special materials can do this, but I personally steal things from the "Quintessential [thing]" series for worldbuilding. There are bards specialized in armor decorations that can give any armor the ability to do things like regenerate, hold buff spells for longer, etc).

>>96472993
Wouldn't use activated/continuous true strike cost like 120k gold? There are way cheaper ways of getting sure you can get your attack off. Hell, attack bonus is one of your least problems if you are a full-BAB class.

>>96472689
>>96473226
The changes in play are largely subtle most of the time. Tanky melee classes tank better and don't have to worry about spells, but 99% of monsters don't wear armor and largely focus on melee anyway.
It makes Martial BBEGs an actually terrifying threat rather than a joke though.
>>96473226
>but still woefully inadequate to make any real difference at high levels
Not if you go deep into the crafting autism. It's pretty easy(if expensive) to get a +20-30 total bonus to saves off armor alone. Monsters rarely have the DCs to overcome that unless I optimize them for high spell DCs specifically.

>>96473437
Exactly. Which is why it's weird fot anon to get bent out of shape over it existing.

>>96471389
people use a lot of the higher level stuff (though not epic) in e6

>>96473437
>There are way cheaper ways of getting sure you can get your attack off. Hell, attack bonus is one of your least problems if you are a full-BAB class.
It's not just about hitting, it's about hitting while trading as much of your BAB for power attack as possible. The two primary ways I know of are wraithstrike (target touch AC which is usually much lower) and heedless charge (power attack gives -AC rather than -to hit)
>>96473437
>>96473486
I'd price it at 16,000,000 gp, 8kk pricing for weapon enhancement bonus, doubled for unusual bonus type. In other words, I don't want that item in my game.

>>96468116
Most DMs are annoyed by obvious abuse of the rules. As for warlocks, outside of shenanigans (which dumbass players obviously wanted to abuse) , they were never seen as particularly munchkiny.

>>96473616
>they were never seen as particularly munchkiny
That is a complete lie. DMs were absolutely banning warlocks left and right because it was "Muh spellcaster with unlimited spells". Few among those that did had bothered to read the complete arcane book itself, they just banned something because it was new and new things scared them.

>>96473888
sorry, you cant have unlimited spider climb and ranged touch attacks at 1st level

>>96473544
>it's about hitting while trading as much of your BAB for power attack as possible.
...And? Anon, if a martial character being able to hit and do massive amounts of damage is a problem in your games, then you need to take a long look at how you DM. Even without optimization, martials are supposed to be doing incredible damage. If that one-shots things, then so what? Having the PCs fight one monster is a great way to get your BBEG raped by the normal action economy either way.

>>96473544
Impaling (3/day touch, +1) and Blurstrike (10/day flat-footed, +2) from MIC cover most of your needs. If you need to kill more than three dragons per day you probably have bigger problems than hitting them. You also can replace Whirlwind Attack with Whirling enchant (+1).

Impaling at higher levels gives up to +30 bonus because a lot of monsters have a shitton of armor or natural armor. Blurstrike doesn't work against rogues, but every dex based opponent without uncanny dodge gets fucked for 10+ AC points.

>>96434718 (OP)
Based book, I still need to use Ethergaunts as something more than a cameo sometime.

I have spent the past few months writing a levels 1 to 10 adventure for 3.5. My group has nearly finished playing through it, but when it is done I will be uploading it for free download for everyone to enjoy. Yes, it has AI art, but the actual writing and encounter design I put a lot of effort into.

>>96474115
It would be better to just have text than to be a sloptard, no one who has a soul is going to want anything to do with it now.

>>96474115
>Cover looks like a Ring World?
Is it like an adventure on an artificial plane or were you forced to use a sci-fi LoRA (or just used those free web generators without much focus)?

>>96474463
The majority of the adventure takes place throughout the outer planes of law and chaos, which I wrote took the form of a giant ring around the prime material plane. So it looks like a ringworld when stood upon.

>>96467887
>Are there any 3rd party materials that you love for this?
Tome of Alchemy. Specifically the essence system, because it lets you turn D&D into Monster Hunter.
ToA basically breaks down how much in materials you can harvest from monsters by HD and Type. You can use this essence as a substitute for Gold in the creation of magic items of the same type as the essence, essentially letting you build that +5 flaming sword of doom by forging it with a red dragons teeth. Like MH, this results in players hunting down monsters because they need 24 cockatrice foreskins for their next outfit.

>>96474115
Damn son, impressive. Why not write a novel about the adventure tho, like the Lodoss guys? You never know, it might catch on

>>96466267
Continuing with Dragonmech - what shapes would be reasonable to use for mechs while adding advantages/disadvantages to them? Off the top of my head:

Walker - standard humanoid
Centaur - faster, but clumsier
Drider - can skitter to the sides, but has spindly legs
Crawler - has no arms, but can skitter to the sides AND has thick legs

And I'm not sure adding worm or yuan-ti like mechs is a good idea since there isn't really much to differentiate them stat wise from drider/walker or crawler.

>>96477963
Ball, with mobility two steps worse for it's size, but movement itself deals damage two steps better

>>96477963
Tank/wheeled mech, significantly faster, worse mobility, especially susceptible to obstacles/hard terrain
and worm/snake could be the opposite, slowest of all, but very good mobility and is just about immune to being stuck

Maybe a buer type for some hybrid between walker and >>96478054
and it deals psychological damage to witnesses, pilots and most importantly the engineers designing it

>>96474115
I commend your efforts anon.
Wish I could put that much focus on a singular creative endeavor.

>>96478797
My best advice is to not have more than 2 projects on the go at any time. That way you can procrastinate on one while working on the other, then swap when you get bored of it.

>>96454781
>otherwise you wind up with high level slaughter house workers due to all of the pigs and chickens they keep killing
You don't get XP for killing, you get XP for overcoming challenges. Slaughtering a farm animal is no more of a challenge for a slaughterhouse worker than making a pair of shoes is a challenge for a shoemaker.

>>96479565
Yeah, I was swapping between making a video game and writing my campaign setting.

>>96471389
E6 means that you stop gaining levels at 6, not that you stop growing more powerful.

>>96479745
>You don't get XP for killing, you get XP for overcoming challenges.
You get xp for both. That's why Evil creatures are able to level so fast, because killing a helpless creature is as much xp as defeating the same creature in open combat.

>>96480100
The DMG disagrees.

>>96478054
>>96478118
Yeah, tanks and wheels are kinda problematic in a world without roads or with minimal roads. And if you try to scale them up it gets even worse. But a ball mech would be fun. With hands. It's just weird enough to work in a D&D derived setting.

As for worm I was going to adapt drills, claws and other options that give burrowing speed and you do have them in Dragonmech so worms would be a little redundant. Though, hmm, I can make worms have the best burrowing speed that would give them enough reason to exist at least as a niche option.

>>96479825
Getting new feats isn't that big of a deal, especially with the diminishing returns when you've already got the best ones.

>>96481407
It is a pretty big deal. When you can finish like 2 feat chains by level 6 max. Full casters may be able to get their best stuff in 3-4 feats but martials have a lot of shit that works perfectly fine in E6 and is impossible to get even as a fighter.
By level 6 Fighter can get 2 Tactical Feats and their prerequisites. It's solid, but nowhere near where you can be with more feats. Even ignoring ToB there is a lot of stuff you can add on top of it.

>>96481407
It adds up, especially when you also keep gaining wealth.

>>96472100
Isn't the solution here to just convert PrC class features into feats with said PrC as the requistie? So, an E6 level locked character might have just one level of Arcane Archer but can take the normally level dependent ArcA class features as feats instead.

>>96477963
An example of a locations/blocks chart for a walker mech - 2 arms, 2 legs, torso/spine and 6 system blocks. This version assumes that mech spent 2 out of 8 blocks on armor. Mechs without armor would have all 8 blocks on the chart and heavily armored ones could in theory have as little as 2 - engine and control room. Depending on the direction from which attacks are coming you can easily see which blocks can be targeted - you can also target over structure blocks (arms, legs, torso frame) but not system blocks, so positioning your blocks just right is important, it also could be used as a minor flaw during mech design where you fuck up block positioning from your intended one or for mass produced mechs to have some inherent problems so that players want to make a better one during the game.

On a mech sheet each location would be numbered an have a corresponding hardness, hit points and the kind of systems it has in place.

>>96485129
Roller - ball with arms that doesn't need legs and painful when collides with someone.
Centaur - faster but more sluggish and easier to damage legs.
Crawler - solid, stable, hard to stop and good for carrying a lot of stuff.
Drider - surprisingly mobile even at larger sizes due to sidesteps, but legs are vulnerable, so isn't good for prolonged combat.
Wagon - cheap, fast, easy to make but has a lot of problems going in rough terrain and wheels are pretty damn vulnerable.
Walker - standard humanoid
Worm - good for burrowing and therefore mining, also for ambushes where it comes out of earth and disgorges troops or smaller mechs from inside, but very slow.

>>96483761
Could also continue taking prc class levels but without gaining bab, saving throws, caster levels, etc.
Tangential, but has anybody tried an alternative to these E(X) where instead of capping levels you just cap spells?
Stuff like not evolving apellcasting past 4th circle or the like.
Maybe continue gaining slots for use with metamagic but spells beyond 5th circle just aren't acessible to the players?
Something like that.

>>96486820
>Could also continue taking prc class levels but without gaining bab, saving throws, caster levels, etc.
Well, it's not as straightforward since for the game to work properly you need scale anything to 6 HD. So if say you have damage scaling ability in prestige class it needs to be kept close to what it is at level 6.
>Tangential, but has anybody tried an alternative to these E(X) where instead of capping levels you just cap spells?
That's called banning full casters. It actually works perfectly fine.

Personally I used the full caster ban together with defense bonus as dodge bonus and armor as DR (including natural armor) - it was pretty nice though party had some close calls at the start due to not wrapping their head around the DR part. It's kinda hard to switch when you got accustomed to normal AC and then you find out that some monsters can get for way longer, especially if you don't manage to whack them with a two-hander.

Owlbear becomes AC 12 with DR 5/- and at the start of the game that could be pretty brutal since that basically cuts incoming damage in half. Even a great wyrm dragon is not as bad since while DR 36/- is nasty by the time you fight them you have a lot of options for dealing with it.

P.S. That Damn Crab absolutely rapes everyone with armor as DR since it gets DR 9/-

>>96436181
>So, last thread, it was suggested that you should ban core for a balanced game with the exception of core feats but what about spells? Wouldn't classes like the shugenja, warmage, healer, etc. lose out a lot while psionics would remain untouched.
I hear this argument a lot in this general, and I always find if funny:
>Just ban most of the AD&D & FR themed content that is the majority of the reason you're not running the other systems you like
is just never going to be a compelling fix for me. (Though at the same time, yes I can also see full casters are overpowered in spell variety and raw spell power, even if eliminating full casters / AD&D-based magic would remove most of the reason I'm running D&D).

>>96488071
>eliminating full casters / AD&D-based magic would remove most of the reason I'm running D&D
That's the rub of trying to fix 3.5, isn't it? When so much of the appeal is the labyrinths of rules and interactions built up over a decade of books and decades of discussion, if you start trying to move the foundations you end up collapsing the whole house of cards even if it's objectively better game design.

>>96485927
Onto possible materials:
Vehicles as objects take 1/4 damage from cold and 1/2 from acid, fire and lightning.

For metals to consider we have copper, bronze, gold (bling), silver (DR bypass), iron, steel (hardness 12 from dragonmech), cold iron (for fighting giant fae monsters), mithral, adamantine, starmetal (to kill demonic kaijus) and aurorum (effectively self repairing steel, which would probably create small wars simply by existing).

For non-metals we have wood, bone, darkwood (light) and bronzewood (worse than iron, better than normal wood), stone(heavy). Bone and wood should also be coming in living variants for beast and plant titans, dead bone already should work perfectly fine with undead titans.

And then we have flesh, including demonic and troll ones, and undead flesh that doesn't get the damage divisors as normal, but can heal, or in case of troll and higher class demonic fast heal. Less HP than metals, lower hardness even with giant scales or fur on top. Perfect for numerous opponents since demon and troll beast titans would have ~1/3 HP of a metal mech on average. Kaiju battles ahoy!

What other materials should I consider?