Min/Max Boards

I prefer the first,  mostly out of familiarity. I tried to stat up a few monsters in the second one and had a hell of a time doing it. I had to flip pages between several sample monsters to try and figure out where everything should go, and it was slow as hell to use at the table.

I'm not sure how much this is the fault of the format or just me not being used to it. It's probably mostly the latter.

That sounds like the latter, as you could reverse "first" and "second" in that sentence and get the same outcome.

Quote from: Ananse on November 04, 2012, 08:41:51 AM

*Level 1 is so borked that even with E6, I'd avocate starting at level 3. If you're really into E6, you'll have no problem getting to the level cap since you just get feats and low-powered features after that.

Problem with E6 is people fail to grasp the concept.

E6 isn't make the strongest 6th level character you can, as we almost always see around here (help my get 9th level spells by ECL 6 in this gestated free +2 LA PB48 game!!11!). E6's rule set is based on nerfing the hell out of what you'll ever be in hopes of balance. Which is shortsighted to begin with. One generic rule of level cap isn't going to fix the dozens of low level Spells and Feats that can be used to break the crap out of anything, you actually have to put forth a little effort if you want to 'fix' D&D.

The combination system and player failure with good intentions make it one of the most popular, and failed, house rules of all time.

It does however help with the gentleman's agreement pretty well. Keeping people's hands out of the higher level spells makes is much easier to keep combos under control. 3.5 has always been broken at every level, from Glitterdust to Gate. The point of playing E6 is to keep it in a more manageable scale. It does that much pretty well. I have a fairly successful IRL with broken combos like At-Will Whirling Blade on an artificer and all kinds of silly shenanigans, and yet the game hasn't turned into an arms race because the Mystic Ranger and the Hood are keeping up just fine. If you gave me 4th level spells though, balance would pretty much cease to exist beyond whatever I choose not to use (as per a gentlemen's agreement)

TL;DR: E6 is a simple starting point to a good D&D game. It's not required for a good game, but it can help.

Quote from: Prime32 on November 05, 2012, 09:14:05 AM

Atoms don't exist by D&D physics, and there's no size category smaller than Fine.

Atoms don't exist? Are you kidding me? Are you seriously saying D&D matter is composed of building blocks as big as a mouse (fine size), or something minecraptastic as that? I doubt it. Matter is made of atoms, what else should it be made of?

Note that the Fine size category is only defined as "6 inches or less". Note also that it only pertains to creatures.

Physics doesn't exist in D&D, and neither does Chemistry. All these things have abstract rules that mimic them to the extent needed for an average game, but are ignored past that point. Convection from lava doesn't burn you to a crisp, and falling damage stops at 20d6 regardless of any normal physics. Atoms may exist in a D&D world, but I doubt a character has any knowledge of it.

Quote from: FlaminCows on November 02, 2012, 09:38:26 PM

Quote from: SolEiji on November 02, 2012, 09:13:12 PM

Oh!  ALL of the spelltouched feats!

For the Spelltouched feats I'd favour a "turn this into a nonstandard reward" approach. I like the idea of long-lasting side-effects of being targeted by spells, and giving them right away makes it a much more immersive in-universe experience than gaining it at levelup.

I actually kind of like the idea.  I can appreciate the immersion aspect and I also like the idea of rewards outside of the usual WBL, magic items thingies (bling of power!), especially ones that give your character more history and can't just be traded in for another +2 to your casting stat.

They also make GREAT rewards in E6. Just sayin.

Quote from: Libertad on October 29, 2012, 03:29:34 PM

Quote from: Prak on October 29, 2012, 11:26:12 AM

4) The Vow feats are fucking stupid. Lets start with the fact that they are more Lawful than Good, conceptually, then add in the fact that they arbitrarily add Christian morality into a game about fire breathing, flying lizards, men who can fire force missiles from their cocks, and many myriad pantheons.

I am, seriously, quite likely to allow almost anything else, at least circumstantially, but I will never allow vow of poverty.

I don't know what sourcebook that spell's from, but I bet it's in the Book of Erotic Fantasy or a James Desborough product.

But on VoP, I think us 3.5 fans should be grateful for what we have:

I mean, look what Pathfinder did to Vow of Poverty!

And the designer considers gimped class features the height of roleplaying!

I'm actually much more on board with that. Vow of Poverty as a character option which does not consume a feat, is mostly a flavour restriction, and allows you to have a single item that may be considerably valuable, and provides a minor bonus is a much better way to represent it.

Vows really shouldn't be feats, they should be, at most, traits a la Unearthed Arcana.

Unfortunately, both 3.5 and Pathfinder require you to have magic items to keep up. Magic users can bypass this (to an extent), but it can still be rough. The game was created with magic items in mind. Dropping the +5 from your weapon can seriously screw up the RNG.

Bloodroot: Injury DC 12, initially does nothing, secondary damage is 1d4 Con + 1d3 Wis. (100gp)

Perfect. I'll use that as the Zombie Plague.

Dodge (Escape Artist/Balance)

Quote from: Maat Mons on October 28, 2012, 12:22:55 AM

Ray deflection doesn't protect against ranged attacks that aren't touch attacks. 

Friendly fire (Exemplars of Evil, p27) is like ray deflection, but its durration is only 1 round/level, it works on all ranged attacks, and you can redirect the attack at someone within 30 feet.

Umm... trust me. This is the exact wording.

"For the duration of the spell, you are protected against ranged touch attacks, including ray spells and ray attacks made by creatures. Any ray attack directed at you is automatically reflected harmlessly away."

It is a sentence that stands on its own. Explain how it doesn't stop all ray attacks. Please. I'm curious.

It does stop Rays. It doesn't stop Arrows.

The savage progressions have inferior HD and Skill points, so they are even worse in E6 where those things are very limited. If you want to play a monster race, Just eat the LA. It doesn't suck near as hard in E6.

Is there any way for a thread with a modified post to provide notification like a new post was added? It would be nice in subscribed threads (especially pbp ones) would provide notification if an edit was made to an existing post after it was last viewed.

Pretty much the same thing I was talking about :-P