1521
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / How much "Tier 1 Awesome" do you get to use in your games?
« on: December 11, 2011, 01:42:33 AM »
Sure, given the resources, a properly built tier 1 character can do anything.
The DMs I've played under haven't come close to letting me use my tricks. Every time I've been a Wizard PC capable of casting animate dead, I've either been told, "It's too evil," or "<Plot Device> prevents you from animating that."
One DM I've Wizarded under effectively banned remote info gathering Divinations without telling me. One, thankfully, let me use contact other plane to determine how much time the party had before the Big Bad took over. (I found it a bit odd that this GM allowed me to use the spell, but didn't realize it was in core. Oh well.)
I've never used wish or the like as a PC, but one of my GMs was telling us out of character how he planned to screw our wishes if we ever got there. We didn't.
Just about the most awesome I got to feel as a tier 1 PCwhen I wasn't GMing was advising the party's Wizard (who wasn't me - I was a Cleric) to cast black tentacles in the tight corridor, getting about 10 foes. Then the GM pulls a "No!" moment and decides some of the grappling victims suddenly have contingent antimagic fields. As mooks. At level 7.
For every dream of being uber with tier 1 characters, vindictive or restrictive GMs have been my greatest bane, not letting me get very creative with my game-granted abilities.
One of my most memorable moments was playing Red Hand of Doom. I was a Conjurer/Incantatrix/Hathran. My Hood cohort was one-shotting or one-rounding everything she hit, until she found a red dragon. Then she two rounded the dragon. Alone. And her multiclassed built put her at a solid tier 3!
What are your experiences? As GM, where do you draw the line?
The DMs I've played under haven't come close to letting me use my tricks. Every time I've been a Wizard PC capable of casting animate dead, I've either been told, "It's too evil," or "<Plot Device> prevents you from animating that."
One DM I've Wizarded under effectively banned remote info gathering Divinations without telling me. One, thankfully, let me use contact other plane to determine how much time the party had before the Big Bad took over. (I found it a bit odd that this GM allowed me to use the spell, but didn't realize it was in core. Oh well.)
I've never used wish or the like as a PC, but one of my GMs was telling us out of character how he planned to screw our wishes if we ever got there. We didn't.
Just about the most awesome I got to feel as a tier 1 PCwhen I wasn't GMing was advising the party's Wizard (who wasn't me - I was a Cleric) to cast black tentacles in the tight corridor, getting about 10 foes. Then the GM pulls a "No!" moment and decides some of the grappling victims suddenly have contingent antimagic fields. As mooks. At level 7.
For every dream of being uber with tier 1 characters, vindictive or restrictive GMs have been my greatest bane, not letting me get very creative with my game-granted abilities.
One of my most memorable moments was playing Red Hand of Doom. I was a Conjurer/Incantatrix/Hathran. My Hood cohort was one-shotting or one-rounding everything she hit, until she found a red dragon. Then she two rounded the dragon. Alone. And her multiclassed built put her at a solid tier 3!
What are your experiences? As GM, where do you draw the line?