Quote from: The Shaman;339058I mean, if someone's pulling a sword, chances are the intent's to kill something. Why shouldn't it be adventurers?

That's not what I'm talking about at all.

Quote from: thecasualoblivion;339054It isn't all bad. Most of the time, the Deus Ex Machina comes in the form of us just blowing all our Daily and item powers and being allowed to rest afterwards. Its kind of satisfying to defeat lv18 battles with a lv12 party, even if it takes forever and is frustrating as hell. I prefer things to be more fast paced, which is how I run things, but he likes the big epic boss battle. He realizes how long they take, and we fight a lower number of combats, often only one a night.

Well, that sounds better than what Geek's going through.

The problem is railroading and nothing else. All other "problems" vanish with it.

Quote from: DeadUematsu;339069Well, that sounds better than what Geek's going through.

Yeah, our deus ex machinas tend to be god-character NPCs. Sometimes literally gods(or future gods or whatever). But they're usually at least level 20, and half the time have at least a few of those deity ranks(from Deities & Demigods I think).

Quote from: GeekEclectic;339074Yeah, our deus ex machinas tend to be god-character NPCs. Sometimes literally gods(or future gods or whatever). But they're usually at least level 20, and half the time have at least a few of those deity ranks(from Deities & Demigods I think).

Now you have my sympathy.  I have not problems with a tough campaign with low magic item yields, but having NPCs continually show up to bail out the NPCs sucks.  Mind you, the Forgotten Realms setting is all about PCs being the butt boys of various 'cool' NPCs.

I like the Realms and while I don't think that's the biggest problem* the setting has, IME a lot of FR DMs do run their games like that and FR players are understandably vocal in their distaste of it.

*Elminister and other epic-level spellcasters seriously act like they're 6th level wizards; not surprising given that Ed Greenwood has never seen any PC spellcaster higher than 9th or so level in his home campaign.

Quote from: Settembrini;339072The problem is railroading and nothing else. All other "problems" vanish with it.

I disagree. He is also describing a DM who is not doing a good job of matching challenges to his PCs, a task that tends to be more challenging in 3.5E D&D.

What you need is access to Grave Strike (somehow)- it's a cleric/paladin spell.

Grave Strike
Divination Good
Cleric 1 Paladin 1
Components: V, DR
Casting time:Swift
Range Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 Round
For 1 round you can deliver sneak attacks against undead as if they were not immune to sneak attacks. This cannot be used for anything else, only Sneak Attacks

Alternately, Penetrating Strike (it's a feat in Dungeonscape) will let you do half sneak attack against undead as a rogue in 3.5.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;339109What you need is access to Grave Strike (somehow)- it's a cleric/paladin spell.

Grave Strike
Divination Good
Cleric 1 Paladin 1
Components: V, DR
Casting time:Swift
Range Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 Round
For 1 round you can deliver sneak attacks against undead as if they were not immune to sneak attacks. This cannot be used for anything else, only Sneak Attacks

Alternately, Penetrating Strike (it's a feat in Dungeonscape) will let you do half sneak attack against undead as a rogue in 3.5.

There are also more reasonable gear based solutions than the Holy weapon, such as a weapon crystal that lets you Sneak Attack Undead, which isn't horribly expensive. There is also a separate crystal for Sneak Attacking Constructs, and you can switch them out.

Quote from: thecasualoblivion;339116There are also more reasonable gear based solutions than the Holy weapon, such as a weapon crystal that lets you Sneak Attack Undead, which isn't horribly expensive. There is also a separate crystal for Sneak Attacking Constructs, and you can switch them out.

We were just talking about those! (Weapon crystals).. yeah, those would be better solutions all around.

I also recommend multiclassing into Swordsage/Warblade if available. You can pick up some Bo9S maneuvers, which tend to be perfectly effective against Undead. You'll sacrifice some Rogue skills and Sneak Attack, but its a pretty fair trade.

GeekEclectic,

Honestly, man, it sounds like you're just in a lousy game with a pretty lame GM.  You say you've talked to him, and he seems to be offering you nothing to help your having fun.  I mean, it isn't his job to kiss your ass or anything, but he should see that things aren't working for you.  If he was any good, he'd arrange things so that at least some of the encounters will make your character shine.

Also, it sounds like an all combat game.  I suspect that isn't what you want, right?

Are there other gaming groups in your area?  Is there any reason you have to stay in this game?

Good luck whatever you decide.

Quote from: Settembrini;339072The problem is railroading and nothing else. All other "problems" vanish with it.

It does basically come down to this, doesn't it?

GE, it sounds like a terrible game you're in, but if you keep playing it, then maybe I can help you out. I currently play in a cool 3.5 campaign now, so my feeble knowledge might be useful.

For starters, what are your character's stats?

Class, Level, Race, Armor Class, Ability Scores, Equipment, Alignment, etc.?

Now I think you're an Elven Rogue, right?

Okay. If you're going to be facing undead, ask the DM if you can grab the variant class feature for Rogues from The Complete Champion. This feature is called Death's Ruin, and it allows you to Sneak Attack undead for half damage, and you only have to trade in your Trap Sense ability. That will help.

Also, if you're tired of getting gimped on identifying magic items, you could take the Appraise Magic Value feat from The Complete Adventurer. It takes much longer to identify magic items with this feat, but it's also much cheaper, so take it.

Another thought. You don't necessarily need uber-powerful magic items to stop your enemies. Mundane items can do the trick. Make sure you carry a shitload of caltrops, tindertwigs, and flasks of oil. These items probably won't kill the guys you're fighting, but they can be brutally effective in slowing down your opponents.

Use a bow when you have to. You may not like keeping track of ammunition, but you'll like dying even less. Your character doesn't sound like a front-line fighting tank, so use ranged attacks to even the odds.

As for dealing with gods, well.....uh....bribe them with rum.

Quote from: GeekEclectic;338984I like the hanging out, and the guys are cool and all, but I'm so not having fun w/ the game portion at all. My character is poor, has crappy equipment(especially for Faerun), is always up against things like undead(sneak attack = no-go) and fights in skinny corridors(no using tumble to get advantageous positions), stuff like that. The DM says the encounters are the proper CR for our level, but if that's true it leaves me wondering if WotC actually knows how to do math. Hate hate hate . . . I thought I could tolerate this, but these problems just get more pronounced every week.

I haven't read any of the other posts yet, just wanted to state that your description above mirrors EVERY SINGLE EXPERIENCE I ever had as a player with D20....I don't know why, but my player experience sucked from 2000-2008 or so when I swore off playing it. As a DM I loved it, by and large (except for the prep time) but I also took care to mirror challenges and plots according to what my players made for characters, something that I think was never done by the DMs I experienced/was subjugated to as a player. I remember heated arguments with one DM in which I and the other players tried for session after session to explain to him that he was misinterpreting the whol CR methodology and that we were tired of being slaughtered every game. Gah! Flashbacks!!!