We've been wrong about CharOp and Min/Max the entire time.

[kurashu]

Bokonon Lives's Top Ten Most Broken Features of Dungeons & Dragons Version 3.5

I will admit that I can't tell a hundred percent if this is sarcastic or not, but I'm erring to the side of not since coming across a "Hallowed By Thy Core Books" is just incredibly common.

According to this guy, Soulknife, Dragon Shaman and Knight are the most broken classes in the game. Monkey Grip destroys melee fairness and Shield Casting is the most borked thing to happen to spellcasting (even if they still need Still Spell to make use of it, note he either didn't notice or forgot about Runesmith in the same book) and Ambush Feats make the rogue too good. Psionics blah blah blah blah. He rails against Unearthed Arcana as being a book for pure metagaming and better than core in every way (I won't dispute that some silly broken stuff comes out of there, but really?). My favorite is Dragon Disciple increases strength -- ZOGM A CHARACTER WITH 30 STRENGTH?! What if this guy also takes Monkey Grip?!

...Mother of God. A Dragon Shaman/Soulknife/Knight/Bard/Rogue/Dragon Disciple with Monkey Grip, Shielded Casting and Ambush feats is the most broken thing in this entire game guiz.

And I know Hideous Laughter is broken because I was stricken with it while reading this article.

[Libertad]

I will admit that I can't tell a hundred percent if this is sarcastic or not, but I'm erring to the side of not since coming across a "Hallowed By Thy Core Books" is just incredibly common.

Keep in mind that on the surface, certain classes, feats, and items can sound overpowered.  Many people (and more than a few optimizers) in 3rd Edition's early days thought that the Monk was overpowered because it got so much stuff.  I don't think he's being sarcastic.

Another reason is that classes which appear to bridge the gap in between roles is a common cause for alarm.  A Dragon Shaman that can do melee and spells and ranged attacks?  There's also his personal ideas of class roles showing through: he strongly tends toward the "Everyman Hero" archetype of noncasters, looking down upon things like the Knight or Ambush feats or things which appear to power up noncasters or give them things that can actually be accomplished by spellcasters.

He also says that Unearthed Arcana's terrible because it's for min-maxers, and he conflates the book with the most extreme forms of optimization (all-powerful PC who ruin every encounter and takes the risk out of D&D).  And he says at the end about how the new generation of gamers got power entitlement from World of Warcraft and equates his method of gaming with role-play (give me a poorly built character and I'll win encounters by role-playing, luck, and ingenuity).  I think he's in the territory between Munchkin-Maxer Fallacy and Stormwind Fallacy.

[phaedrusxy]

I remember reading this a few months ago (I think it is the same one, I didn't click the link) and thinking it must be an enormous troll.

[Quillwraith]

If an arcane caster is in melee to use Shielded Casting, (s)he's doing it WRONG.


Also, insofar as UA, he seems overly willing to hate people he does not know, nor know anything significant about.

I remember reading this a few months ago (I think it is the same one, I didn't click the link) and thinking it must be an enormous troll.

Why'd you think that?

[kurashu]

I remember reading this a few months ago (I think it is the same one, I didn't click the link) and thinking it must be an enormous troll.

Why'd you think that?

Because it's too perfect of a storm of idiocy.

[Saxavarius]

If he is serious; which i pray he isn't, he seems to have a severe case of "core (PHB, DMG, MM) are the only balanced books"

[whitetyger009]

well obviously not all the core books are balanced look at the Dragon Disciple!!!


if this guy is serious then he is an idiot.  i have seen things much more broken than this list.  i mean he didn't even mention that kobold god character parm parm (pam pam? pom pom?  oh whatever).  if the DM has allowed the game to be ruined by what the players have done then he wasn't paying enough attention to what they were doing and didn't adjust his game to suit them. 

[SneeR]

That hurts to read, just because it is obvious that he thinks he knows what he is talking about...  Just...
no

[littha]

OH GOD MY BRAIN 

[Quillwraith]

if this guy is serious then he is an idiot. 

That's why I think he's serious.
In my experience, real idiots are more common than fake ones.

i mean he didn't even mention that kobold god character parm parm (pam pam? pom pom?  oh whatever).

Pun-Pun

[whitetyger009]

if this guy is serious then he is an idiot. 

That's why I think he's serious.
In my experience, real idiots are more common than fake ones.

i mean he didn't even mention that kobold god character parm parm (pam pam? pom pom?  oh whatever).

Pun-Pun

HEY new here and not used to your fancy specialized terms

[littha]

Considering you started a thread asking about it not long ago I am surprised you got it wrong.

[JohnnyMayHymn]

"The Soulknife's versatility transcends all reason."
...and psionics is just not fair to the other players
 

[Pencil]

He has to be trolling....
In any case just ignore him.If he is a troll ignore him because he wants attention, if he is an idiot ignore him to be nice....

[awaken_D_M_golem]

  ... whatever.

[caelic]

Okay, okay, I'll try to play Devil's Advocate here.  Someone has to.

Well, first off...uhm...see, there's...

You realize, this is not going to be easy.

In fairness, there are a few things on his list which I'd say actually rate as "potentially overpowered."  Tasha's is a very strong choice as a first level spell.   Psionics can be overpowered.

Of course, he doesn't seem to have any idea why psionics can be overpowered.  No mention of nova capability, and how that can be disproportionately powerful if you can control your number of encounters per day; instead, it's "OMG a 1d10 power at first level!!!1!!!!!"

It's things like that that make me a little suspicious, to be honest.  I mean, if he'd just said "Psionics is overpowered!" that would be one thing.  But to say it and then single out something as utterly-trivial as a 1d10 damage power, or 2/- damage reduction?  That sounds a little fishy.  To single out Ambush feats as overpowered, and ignore Staggering Strike...which comes from the same book and is vastly better at locking down opponents? 

Again, fishy.

[Bauglir]

I can sorta buy Tasha's, but I expect the entire thing was a troll and that got lumped in by accident. Saves at that level are more luck than stats, but you still have to be able to actually kill your target in the 2 rounds it's down. It's really just more frustrating to be on the receiving end since it means you get to sit around doing nothing.

[RobbyPants]

He has to be trolling....

Yeah, given that the soulknife is basically an NPC warrior with a few more  HP, a lower BAB, and a first level class feature of "you start with a short sword", he's trolling.

[Libertad]

He has to be trolling....

Yeah, given that the soulknife is basically an NPC warrior with a few more  HP, a lower BAB, and a first level class feature of "you start with a short sword", he's trolling.

Poe's Law.  That is all.

[RobbyPants]

Poe's Law.  That is all.

Yes. Yes, I know.