I am also absolutely fascinated how out of those 8 spells, 7 are thwarted by the grand strategy of "run away and come back in 10 minutes."

I'm rusty at 3.5, but I seem to recall typed bonuses not stacking.  Only untyped and specific examples like dodge, IIRC.

That would be the quickest way to quash it, even if not RAW.

As for me, I prefer characters with a theme.  "Insane AC" might be one, but it's too metagamey.  "Best pilot ever" is more my style.

Quote from: Will;772291I didn't really have a solid game reason to tell her to stop turning into a Marut.

How much more of a reason do you need than "hey player, doing this one trick over and over is collapsing the campaign"?  Everyone at the table knows what is happening.  You should talk with the players about things that are harming the campaign.

Quote from: Old One Eye;772400How much more of a reason do you need than "hey player, doing this one trick over and over is collapsing the campaign"?  Everyone at the table knows what is happening.  You should talk with the players about things that are harming the campaign.

Because everything a high level druid can do can collapse the campaign. High level D&D is crazy.

Basically, I'd have to have asked her to pretend she was really really stupid to keep pace with some of the other players.

Quote from: Will;772401Because everything a high level druid can do can collapse the campaign. High level D&D is crazy.

Basically, I'd have to have asked her to pretend she was really really stupid to keep pace with some of the other players.

Yeah, high level 3.x is something else.  I ended a campaign around 18th or 19th due too-much-going-on fatigue.  

That seems an odd reason to allow a campaign to collapse under a known problem when just talking about it will probably fix things, but hey, your game and your players.

Quote from: Opaopajr;772398I am also absolutely fascinated how out of those 8 spells, 7 are thwarted by the grand strategy of "run away and come back in 10 minutes."

That simple critter strategy defeats a fair number of 3.x uber builds.  Guess a lot of DMs just grind a battle out regardless?

Quote from: Old One Eye;772406Yeah, high level 3.x is something else.  I ended a campaign around 18th or 19th due too-much-going-on fatigue.  

That seems an odd reason to allow a campaign to collapse under a known problem when just talking about it will probably fix things, but hey, your game and your players.

Well, my solution NOW is E6. There were problems long before that -- I just don't like mid to high level 3e. It doesn't fit the vast majority of fantasy I enjoy and am familiar with, and want to emulate.

The campaign ended soon after that, anyway.

Quote from: Old One Eye;772407That simple critter strategy defeats a fair number of 3.x uber builds.  Guess a lot of DMs just grind a battle out regardless?

I got 3.x fatigue from levels 1-5, so I try not to imagine the higher realms of madness. However, yes, I think you're right that many GMs will grind out the battle regardless.

There seems to be a weird player epiphany when I run 2e and the monsters ever: talk, bargain, ignore, flee, break morale, kite, lure, start further away, etc. It's like the whole game paradigm they knew has been thrown on its head and suddenly the world is a lot more dangerous by how dynamic it can be. One of the first responses is half the players are suddenly very cautious of combat.

That said the other half of first responses I get are complaints about lost XP and not enough combats... until a few mortal terror combats are under their belt. I take the chiding in stride and let the party suss out their own temperament. Eventually players/characters on similar wavelengths find each other.

While I enjoy 3e a good deal, I have a list of things I feel are just wrong with it (most of them are easy to fix if you want).

The first is the power inflation (fixed by E6).

The second is the focus on grinding enemies, essentially -- every enemy you actually fight and defeat is XP and loot. Every enemy you don't -might- get you XP is generous, but almost never any loot.

This is solved by either setting a pacing of advancement or making xp/loot adventure-based.

The third is magic items, which are hard to strip out without mucking with balance. This is also somewhat helped by E6 -- the difference between a boring magic item and a cool flavorful magic item (or none) isn't overwhelming.

Quote from: Bren;772223I get why someone might find that sort of how many angels are dancing on the head of a pin exercise intellectually interesting. What I don't get is how this kind of character/buff could ever be an actual problem at an actual table with real people. I'd expect all the people at the table over the age of 12 would just give the angel-pin-head guy the old fish eye  and say something like, "Cute build, very creative use of a laundry list of spells. But no. Now create a character that will actually be fun for everyone in play." And then they would actually play a fun RPG.

You realize that is a single class Wizard?

Quote from: Opaopajr;772398I am also absolutely fascinated how out of those 8 spells, 7 are thwarted by the grand strategy of "run away and come back in 10 minutes."

I'm absolutely fascinated at all these creatures knowing exactly what those spells are.

Or here's a difficult counter-strategy,  cast invisibility first then buff.

Quote from: Sommerjon;773056You realize that is a single class Wizard?


I'm absolutely fascinated at all these creatures knowing exactly what those spells are.

Or here's a difficult counter-strategy,  cast invisibility first then buff.

Or just take cover and do the same. The problem with all these white room theories is that the game isn't played in a white room....or let's hope not.

Quote from: Sommerjon;773056I'm absolutely fascinated at all these creatures knowing exactly what those spells are.

Or here's a difficult counter-strategy,  cast invisibility first then buff.

Still vying for relevance? Some cave troll attacking all aglow with multiple auras should not require a monster to have genius level arcana knowledge to figure out to run away. To see that as GM metagaming first is more than enough to understand where you are coming from and rightfully ignore you from then on.

As to your oh-so-clever invisibility tactic, Scintillating Scales and Radiant Armor et al. are all masked by invisible? What else, Major Illusions to mask everything else like footprints, smells, etc.? How much more meta-bullshit would you like to stack on this "perfect attack"? Please stop wasting everyone's time by proving you cannot read, let alone think.

Quote from: Opaopajr;773062Still vying for relevance? Some cave troll attacking all aglow with multiple auras should not require a monster to have genius level arcana knowledge to figure out to run away. To see that as GM metagaming first is more than enough to understand where you are coming from and rightfully ignore you from then on.

As to your oh-so-clever invisibility tactic, Scintillating Scales and Radiant Armor et al. are all masked by invisible? What else, Major Illusions to mask everything else like footprints, smells, etc.? How much more meta-bullshit would you like to stack on this "perfect attack"? Please stop wasting everyone's time by proving you cannot read, let alone think.

Did the quote say anything about actually attacking or..."the Best Offense is a Good Defense"
 Yet I'm the one who cannot read.:rolleyes:

Quote from: Marleycat;773060Or just take cover and do the same. The problem with all these white room theories is that the game isn't played in a white room....or let's hope not.

I am working on "White Room Dungeon". It will sell millions. Really... it will...

Quote from: Omega;773095I am working on "White Room Dungeon". It will sell millions. Really... it will...

It probably will.