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I was pretty sure this was how it worked.

So a Celestial X speaks Celestial. What does a Fiendish X speak? Will that vary based on the alignment of the summoned creature?

so I can start attracting some worshippers? Chaotic, tricky, greedy, female worshippers?

Um...is that female worshipers with those attributes or anyone who worships females with those attributes? I could easily worship a chaotic, tricky, greedy female....

:D

The Garden of Adompha - "Now, as if in suppliance, the semi-vegetable arms reached out towards Adompha with their human hands. The king felt a revival of his old interest in Dwerulas' horticulture, a queer excitement woke within him before the mingled grotesquery and beauty of the grafted plant."

Is it bad that -

- I read this thread
- I read the above story
- I came back to read the new posts and post that
- I now have an idea for an adventure-arc based on that story???

Thanks for the story links, btw. Oh and Carmilla was a good one.

This change makes sense to me. Mithral was always "the broken metal" to me, but I also apply "sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" logic, so if the players went heavy on mithral armor, so did the NPCs and their BABs got better. Obviously, if they focus on armor, the players want more combat, right? So therefore *everybody* wants more combat, too.

So, for me, at first glance, the requirement of Armor Prof (heavy) is a reasonable price to pay for the lighter armor.

Or you could just control the source of the mithral in the first place...

I have a dilemma for next year:

- PAIZOCON, or

- 20 year high school reunion.

Yer my sister's age! I failed to attend my 20th and I could have driven to it in less than an hour. Since I didn't have much to do with anyone in my class and until last year had no idea where most of the 600-ish people in my class even were, it didn't seem like a major issue. Still doesn't. I'd pick PaizoCon over a HS reunion any day. But that's based on my own personal situation. YMMV.

On the other hand, I'd love to make PCIII!! Hopefully, life will be such that attendance is viable.

Doc_Outlands wrote:

Wow! VERY handy to me! Any plans to include options from Unearthed Arcana, like flaws, traits, and so on?

Thanks for the suggestion Doc, I will certainly look into this - A good idea. I don't think the game rules are copyrighted so I should be ok using them. Does any one know if this could cause a problem?

UA contents were added to the SRD, iirc. Shouldn't be an issue to use anything in there. (oh, and adding the Celestial template would be awesome, too - would speed up me preparing opponents for my upcoming campaign...)

My wife says the only other thing she can think of is to use the gestalt option from Unearthed Arcana. That can tax your sanity, if your players aren't seasoned. I just looked and didn't see any ready-made class variants that fit her concept in UA's classes chapter.

Check Heros of Battle - Guerilla Warrior feat. You get a reduction of armor check penalties for light and medium armors and Hide and Move Silently cost you 1 point, even tho max ranks are still same for being cross-class.

That should help a bit... I'll get my wife - whose first D&D character ever was a 3ed Ranger/Druid - to offer up anything she can think of in a bit...

Little something I tossed together that my players are interested in turning into a significant part of their campaign. Thought I'd toss it out here to share and see if anyone had any thoughts or comments they might want to share.
============================

BEING A TREATISE ON THE RULES AND VARIANTS FOR POPULAR SUMMONING COMPETITIONS

It was the will of the Guild Council to establish a common reference work in identifying the various methods in use for adjudicating the competitions between Conjurers, particularly in the use of Summoning Magicks. To that end, this Treatise was commissioned in order to codify the known styles of competitions and reference their known variants for the edification of all Guildmembers. Keeping in mind that new competitions or variants may be encountered or developed, this document is being presented as a living document and as such may be appended or updated at any time, without warning.

Certain variations are common across all the games. The first is the setting of a time limit for the duration of the individual challenges. The second is whether or not additional spells are allowed to be cast on the Summoned creatures before or during the challenge. Additionally, some challenges are divided into a specified number of rounds of a given length, with grace periods between the rounds to be used for casting restorative or enhancing spells. This approach is particularly popular amongst Casters of the nations of eastern Forinth. Finally, Casters may be restricted in how many times they may Summon creatures during a challenge.

Competition #1

Commonly called "Last Man Standing" or variation thereof, this competition is regularly seen as a slugfest between Summoned creatures of opposing Casters. The primary variations seen in this competition has to do with whether Casters are limited to how many times or creatures they are allowed to summon. Rarely is a time-limit imposed as is seen in other variants, but occasionally during multiple-casting contests, there is a point set beyond which no more Summonings may be cast and the final conflict is allowed to play out.

In Ruidia, brackets are run as in a warrior's tournament, typically held in double-elimination fashion. Casters are limited to a single Summoning, but are allowed to enhance and heal their avatars throughout the competition.

Competition #2

This is known as "First Touch." In this style, the opposing caster is the target of the Summoned creature. Here, the object is for the creature to make a successful melee touch attack against the opposing Caster. Harming the Caster is almost uniformly considered to be a sign of poor sportsmanship and lack of control and is regularly penalized by disqualification and in many cases financial sanctions. The main variation in this competition is whether or not the Caster is allowed to defend themselves against the creature's efforts.

Certain northern barbarian Sorcerers use a variant that is a fight to first blood, wherein the creatures are allowed to inflict damage and the Casters are allowed to fight back.

Competition #3

This category is more a group of related competitions that share a common style. Frequently, these games are referred to as "Capture The Flag" for their use of a flag or heraldic banner on the field. Casters are typically expected to provide their own banner in two-flag games, whereas the hosting field provides one - usually in the colors of the game's sponsor - for one-flag games. In a one-flag game, the flag starts in the center of the field and the creatures from each side must first reach the flag and then either return it to their own starting area or advance it to their opponent's starting area, depending on the local rules. Two-flag games require the Summoned creatures to either advance their own flag across the field to plant it in their opponent's starting area or to retrieve their opponent's flag from the far side of the field and return it to their own starting area. In all cases, the flags return to their original starting point within 5-6 seconds via a variant of the Dimension Door spell.

These games have the most number of variants. First, several Casters may be grouped together as one team, as is common in Havalrand. Most multi-Caster challenges are restricted to no more than a single Summoning per Caster. Games are played until one side reaches a set number of points first or they may run a preset length of time, with the side having scored the most points being declared the winner. Should one side see the loss of all their summoned creatures, the opposing side is typically called as the winner, with points recorded as scored up to that moment.

Entry Requirements, Fees, & Prizes:

Sponsors may set whatever requirements they wish to enter a competition and this varies widely between cultures. (For example, in Khadil, only females are allowed to cast arcane magicks, therefore their competitions are open only to females.) Membership in a particular Guild or Magickal Order, Patronage or Sponsorship, minimum casting capabilities, and nationality are all known requirements that have been used throughout history.

Fees and prizes often go together, as the former is frequently used to provide the latter. At the Collegium of Ghent, competitors were charged a scroll as their entry fee. The top three winners then selected from the scrolls as their prizes, the idea being to foster the spread of Arcane knowledge amongst peers. This practice continues to this day and has gained popularity amongst scholarly types as a means for both improving the range of student spellbooks as well as providing a practical test of Summoning magicks and language skill. Other entry fees known to have been charged have included the obligatory coinage, gifts to charity, spell components, artwork, enchanted items, personal favors, and rare animals. One famous competition held by Lady Ariviaa, Countess Bhonlen, had as its entry fee a poem. It was for this event Lord Fagalen the Dusty composed his now-famous "Salute to the Far Road" extemporaneously, having arrived at Bhonlen Estate with no foreknowledge of the event being hosted.

As was mentioned, the prizes offered at a given competition may be tied to the entry fee, but this is not by any means a hard and fast rule. Many competitions have been hosted in order to meet the needs of a particular charity - the building now housing the Santo Pilastro orphanage and chapel in Juntasa was paid for from funds raised by such a competition. Every participant received a small cloak-badge as a token of appreciation and today those who wear their badge when visiting that town find themselves on the receiving end of many kindnesses while there, from free food and lodging to special treatment by city officials. Other prizes include the obligatory coinage, the aforementioned spell-scrolls, magickal items, artwork, trophies, and personal favors, to name several. If something has a value or is desireable by someone, it has probably been used as a prize. Naturally, the more powerful the competitors, the more valuable the prizes. Most competitions give awards to either just the winner of each category or to the top three finishers.

GAME NOTES:

Competition structures are typically single-elimination, double-elimination, or round-robin styles. If the pool of competitors is particularly small, a double round-robin structure is frequently used.

Another concern is how tournaments divide up entrants into categories. A student who has just completed his apprenticeship is no match in most challenges for a Guild Mage who researches new spells for breakfast. Detect Magic offers one potential grouping by following Aura strengths of "faint," "moderate," and "strong" which yields Wizards grouped into levels 1-6, 7-12, and 13-20. This quickly leads to uneven matches, such as a Dretch versus a Celestial Badger. The availability of Arcane Sight gives the DM a way to keep things more even, by allowing only match-ups of equal spell level.

Indeed. I've popped onto paizo.com probably a dozen times this morning, just reading and posting and reminiscing with the warm fuzzies of a great time. You don't want it to end, but there's another year to look forward to.

That sounds suspiciously like aft- er, wait. This is a family-friendly place, isn't it? I can't say that.

LUCKY YOU!! All those warm fuzzy memories (which would be a lot clearer if you hadn't- wait. There goes the family-friendly alert again.) you get to relive and cherish! Perhaps next year.

Altho my buddies are trying to get me to go to AdventureCon next year, which happened to be this past weekend. Conflict - the spice of life!

It pretty much reinforces my existing opinions, thanks. :D

Paizo gets money instead of WotC? :D

I like this idea. A lot. I liked the DT when they came out. Then their thickness was frustrating on my playing surfaces. Then storing them conveniently turned into a hassle. Then keeping track of what tiles were available was frustrating. Then finding out that the two designs I absolutely HAD TO HAVE were printed on the SAME TILE got a touch frustrating.

Yes - map cards sized to fit popular trading-card-game boxes printed on a single side is an awesome thing. Dungeons and buildings sets are the most obvious products. Different floor/wall textures would be great. Just my thoughts.

Those four bolded words are the reason I asked my question. The way I read it, communication is not guaranteed/assumed. The spell description, however, never explains what is necessary to communicate with the summoned creature, nor does the Celestial or Fiendish template descriptions in the MM. Given the text under "Intelligence" in the PHB, human-like intelligence starts at 3. A summoned celestial/fiendish creature has its INT as "at least a 3." So I would assume it to speak a language. Since "Speak with Animals" is not on a Wizard's spell-list, that leaves the next obvious option to be the summoned creature speaks Celestial or (Abyssal/Infernal, depending on its home plane). Otherwise, Wizards have little hope of ever using their Summoned creatures to full potential.

Well, I was wondering about something similar to Detect Magic's Aura Power levels. I did manage to find what I wanted - Arcane Sight. It gives the caster the ability to determine the strength of the most powerful spell the target currently has available for use. This will suffice for my purposes.

How would one spellcaster determine the level of another? Reasons would include things like, can caster X cast Fireball, is this caster a better match for Caster Y (level 3) or Caster z (level 16), etc.

We've never really used it before, so this is something new for me. You have to be able to communicate with the creature?!? Does this mean my Caster needs Speak With Animals? Does a Celestial Badger speak Celestial? I'm confused!

Wow! VERY handy to me! Any plans to include options from Unearthed Arcana, like flaws, traits, and so on?

I'll be buying. Beta and final release both. I pushed hard for P20, so how could I *not* support them when they do it?

Fizz, I'm sorry to hear about your tragedy, because losing your partner-in-life can be nothing but a tragedy. I can't add to the good advice already posted - get help, professional and personal, before you do anything and never ever give up on yourself. That level of devestation is gonna take a long time to heal - just go ahead and own up to that fact right now because it makes dealing with it less stressful when you think "I should be over this and moving on." I took a GriefShare course last year after losing my mom and it helped, so I'm telling ya - reach out and don;t stop reaching until you find something to hang onto.

We're here for you. Just holler.

I have no idea if a sufficiently clever derivation thereof might be legally viable; you need a lawyer like Sebastian or Forgotten Prince to explain how far you can take things like that.

"Third Edition rules, First Edition feel."

;)

Can a game-book/module/accessory legally say "compatible with D&D3.5" (or GURPS, D6, Traveller, etc) on the cover? Or is the use of the game-system name a copyright/licensing no-no?

I read this entire thread, rather than getting ready for this afternoon's game. I'm glad I did. During the reading, I have developed a few scattered, random thoughts that I would like to throw out into the open, to either run, shrivel, or shine. Some were mentioned in the thread already.

Pathfinder Traditional Fantasy Role Playing (TFRP)
P20 system (Paizo 20)
3.Pi - use 3.5 SRD with needed updates and tweaks
-- COULD Paizo publish an "SRD expansion" for 3.P/P20 rules that cover SRD gaps and tweak SRD uglies? That way, existing 3.5 players keep their books or SRD and just use the updates.

PM - Path-Master
Pathfinder's Handbook
PMG - PathMaster's Guide
Fell Beasts

refine clunky mechanics in the srd - "grappling/sunder/trip/disarm rules" per Coridan
change up base classes - look back to old editions/OD&D?
new XP progression chart
new character generation
new deities - use Golarion's as the default

ISSUES:
advertising - "If you've played d20, you can play P20!"
minimize entry costs
minimize differences/overhauls
---"As a DM, if I'm getting new rule books, it's to add to my game, not replace it." -GregH
Get Paizo items distributed into wider markets

So anyway - that's a lot of what popped into my rabid lil brain whilst reading this thread.

(One thing I would *personally* like to see is an overhaul of the default magic system, but them diehard "I don't wanna convert my pregen modules" people wouldn't go for the wholesale replacement of such a major "loadbearing element" - witness comments made in re Monte's BoExM 20-level system. I understand the point - I just happen to disagree. Deeply. And occasionally vehemently. :D )

Folks, this has been truly evil, mean, rotten, and nasty.

I've been taking notes.

And my players know this. >:D

Doc_Outlands wrote:

UA is open-content? Incantations are OC?!? A 3rd-party publisher could run with it?!!? STAND BACK! I'm having an idea!

Hold on! That is MY idea!

ROLL INITIAVE!!

:D

I've always loved alternate magic stuff and the incantations were part of why I bought UA. I have long lamented the fact that no one seemed to want to support either the UA incantations or the S&S rituals. It never occurred to me to check and see if either one were open-content in order to write my own!

/me rolls an aid-another INT-check to craft a "rituals and incantations" support book...

(or should that be a Craft (game-supplement) or Profession (game designer) roll instead??)

Yup, I've got R&R. Dunno how much, if any, is Open Content. Haven't had it out recently to check.

ok, that's what I was thinking. I have a PC who has relied on "natural talent" over "training" and now cannot qualify for a particular prestige class. Sux to be him!

(I usually DM, so some character-creation nuances are...rusty)

I will check out Urban Arcana when I get home, indeed, another good idea.

However I am still baffled why some 3rd party didn't create a book of rituals considering they are open content. What a shame!

-DM Jeff

UA is open-content? Incantations are OC?!? A 3rd-party publisher could run with it?!!? STAND BACK! I'm having an idea!

Depends on what is most fun for the players, first. If they are most worried about killing and looting the lair, and are devoting their creative energies to that end, then a quick gloss-over and deduction of gp are all the actions I'll take on it.

However, if they are more interested in "the story" of their characters and the world around them, I'll go into a lot more depth.

Ok - in my quick look thru things, I couldn't find an answer. So I'm throwing it out here for help.

In qualifying for a PrC, do ability modifiers count as ranks in skills for PrC prerequisites?

(based on the OP's order...)

Strength - 7
Intelligence - 16
Wisdom - 11
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 9
Charisma - 10

oooooooo...

o_O

O_o

Wizard? Bard? Eeeeeeeenteresting!

I haven't even read the rules preview yet. IMO, there's still so much to work with in 3.5 that there's little need for 4e. Now, I will grant you that some clarification and tidying-up is needed, thanks to the avalanche of Races Of X and Complete Y books, but not enough for a whole new system. IMO. So, that said - I can't vote in this poll! I plan on sticking with 3.5 for a mighty long time to come. I know some of my gaming group have declared themselves to be looking forward to it and will be buying the core books as soon as they are available. And, more than likely, they will be wanting me to run it. But, in the end, I doubt I will be spending my own money on it.

They're not open content, but a killoren (Races of the Wild) makes a very interesting warlock. The only problem I have with fey-based warlocks is rewriting the flavor text on most of the invocations; the great majority assume a lower-planar origin.

Thanks for the killoren tip - I'll check them out today.

And definitely agreed on the lower-planar origins, which is odd since the flavor-text for the base-class specifically states "many warlocks are created by non-evil sources."

My own personal opinion... I've never understood the fascination with the Warlock - is it because he's connected with entities most foul? That latent wish in so many people to play someone who's mysterious and might just be evil?

My warlocks have always taken the fey-oriented route, personally. Take the moderate Fey bloodline from UA (major bloodline actually starts replicating most of the Warlock's class abilities!) to make it even more apparent. I prefer humans, but an Elven fey-based Warlock has definite potential, too.

Take the "Loner" flaw and replace your familiar w/ a feat...

Second potion belts. You've got two types *plus* the Belt of Many Pockets. So there's a demand for a bandolier-belt o' pocketses!

Set, that would be CR1 *each* - so a squad of them would climb the EL-chart quickly!

**hurriedly files off serial numbers then begins whistling innocently**

Dammit! I had a really long, detailed post trailing out my logic process and the board effing ATE IT!

However, you awesome folks have already nailed several of the points I was making.

One thing - NPC classes in the DMG have a starting-gold allotment. I'd never noticed that. Sadly, that's the ONLY TIME I can find that NPC class wealth is handled separately from Table 4-23: NPC Gear Value.

As for ECL, DMG200, has this to say under "Special Cohorts": "Take the level adjustment plus the Hit Dice to generate ECL."

By that, a War1 Kobold has an ECL of 1, and thus, 900gp starting gear.

Doc_Outlands wrote:

Now, for you guys who have bought it already, how much of the product is OGC?

To quote the book:

The following portions of the BOEM are open content:

Thank you thank you thank you!!

Many thanks to everyone who has - and will - take the time to review this for us not-yet-buyers. I'm already sold. ;)

Edit: Okay, I finally busted out the DMG and looked it up. 900gps is the equipment for a 1st level NPC. A kobold warrior is not a 1st level NPC and giving them them more than their normal wealth should increase their CR. It's great that you had a good time playing the encounter, but the argument that the CR should be increased due to the equipment is fairly strong.

Hm - guess I been laboring under some misapprehensions, then. Since the MM-standard Kobold is a War1, I assumed he was a 1st lvl NPC for the wealth tables. Is this incorrect? I didn't think CR=lvl for that purpose.

Doc_Outlands wrote:

Seems most folk feel the answer to OPQ#1 (original poster's question number one) is "Yes, you went too far and were being a snarky DM. Your Kobold Spartans were so totally unbelievable as to ruin my game - and I wasn't even there." Fair enough.

That wasn't my intended point at all - the believability of kobold tactics was an issue raised by Russ that I thought was interesting. What I saw in the OP was the question "does equipment affect CR." The answer is yes.

Sorry, Sebastian - I should have structured my post a little better - I had no intent to lump you in with the "most folks" statement. My mistake in how I put the post together. As far as I know, I stayed within the DMG guidelines on equipping them - I took away their MM-issue gear and gave them what I wanted them to have w/in the NPC wealth-level for War1. (see my immediately-previous post, as I'm particularly interested in replies from you and Scribe on my clarifications there)

I've talked to a couple of the players now about the encounter. They were overwhelmingly convinced they had fun! The Gnome Rogue player liked having to scout out possible hidey-holes and find traps. (she found three) The Half-Orc Ranger type loved the fact that they were hard to hit! He did have Kobolds as his favored enemy and he knew - as a player - I was up to "something," but not exactly what. Now, in a campaign setting, I should have either let him know this group was known to be different or the entire adventure should have been a la "Scourge of the Howling Horde" w/ the BBEG previously mentioned having been the motive for upgunning the warband, which they would have found out at the end of the adventure.

Another universal acclaim from all four was my use of SKG's tileset. Those have been declared to be worthy of elevation to demigodhood immediately!

One complaint - one of my players claims the encounter worked out to an EL5! He figures my outfitting them with breastplates and shields raised their CR from 1/4 to 1/2 - and 10x CR1/2 monsters is an EL5. I disagree, because their re-equipping stayed within their wealth-limit of 900gp. No mwk, no special materials, no weapon feats, etc. Challenging encounter, yes...but wait! An encounter of the party's level is *defined* as "challenging"!

Honestly, I forgot to use some of the gear they had! Tanglefoot bags, anyone?

Also - phalanx fighting on the diagonal doesn't work well. A PC can move up into the "crack" and reach the second rank spearmen, negating the point of the phalanx. (pun recognized)

Rob, my players have recently started nosing about the idea of a Central American style setting/campaign. Bits and pieces of Twilight started clicking into place and some possible adjustments started presenting themselves.

Bottom line - I might borrow a lot of your basis and rework it into a Mayan-style setting! That oughta show that WereLeopard Scout a thing or three! (actually, he'd bloody LOVE it!)

Set wrote:

but the Shatter at will thing can be a nasty piece of work since almost all of the nice low level encounters do damage through weapons and become pretty wimpy if their weapons are blowed up.

Really? I didn't let my players target an object held or worn by another creature.

At the very least that creature would get a will save to negate the effect.

Wow, AL. That's like telling a fighter he can sunder anything except the weapon his opponent is wielding. Rules for item saving throws are on PHB166 - unattended items never make saving throws, while attended items make saving throws as the character. Shatter (PHB278) has a saving throw of Will (negates). So, your "at the very least" approach which you didn't allow is - apparently - the right approach.

I love Warlocks, btw.

OP - something else to keep in mind. Warlocks can't really directly assist their teammates the way other arcane casters can. Warlocks are all about themselves. The only divergence from this is the availability of battlefield-shaping invocations, like Breath of the Night, Miasmic Cloud, Hungry Darkness, Wall of Gloom, Chilling Tentacles, and Wall of Perilous Flame.

Warlocks *can* use magic items (but so can Rogues) and can even Take 10 on a UMD check at level 4. They can detect magic at will. This is in the write-up, but they are worth (imo) repeating and considering as you prepare your adventure.

If you are going to allow a Warlock, I strongly urge you to let the player have access to the Invocations in Dragon Magic and Complete Mage, also. Some of them allow the Warlock design to run off in radically different directions - which is a good thing.

Warlock multi-classed or gestalted with Rogue or Scout can make for some really nasty combos. Warlock/Fighter should *definitely* take the Eldrich Glaive invocation.

And yes - the 9th lvl Warlock in mithral full-plate, flying about tossing out Blasts (Chained or Brimstone'd) with a 250' range (Spear) at invisible opponents (See the Unseen), while deflecting incoming arrows (Entropic Warding) - is a nice visual.

Awesome! Monte + magic = spent money! Now, I just have to *get* money to spend!

Now, for you guys who have bought it already, how much of the product is OGC?

If you're going for power, changeling is a somewhat weak option. Their only special ability can be imitated by a cheap wondrous item.

But can't that cheap magic item be spotted a mile away (figuratively speaking) and targeted by a Dispel Magic? A changeling's ability wouldn't be visible to Detect Magic, would it?

In regards to the original post though, the DMG/MM set forth the amount of equipment an NPC is supposed to have. Once you increase that equipment by a certain amount, the CR increases as well. As proof, take the exercise to the most absurd levels. Run a party of 2nd level characters against 10 kobolds, each with a ring of three wishes. If kobolds are sporting 2x or 3x their typical treasure, that should increase their CR just as if they were built with all 18s or a 52 point buy.

Awright, I'll use Sebastian's reply as my prime example to move on.

Seems most folk feel the answer to OPQ#1 (original poster's question number one) is "Yes, you went too far and were being a snarky DM. Your Kobold Spartans were so totally unbelievable as to ruin my game - and I wasn't even there." Fair enough.

However, OPQ#2 was barely touched on and not ever really answered for me. Some of the kobolds in this particular lair had the following changes:
-replace Alertness with Phalanx Fighting
-replace Leather Armor with Breastplate
-replace crappy weapon with a short sword and longspear
-give them a large steel shield

As we discovered, this changed their fighting ability *radically,* making them far harder to hit. As far as being able to hit the adventurers, there wasn't any improvement - they were simply able to stay in the fight as a target a LOT longer. The back rank had reach and cover.

With all that, facing six Kobold Spartans, is the DMG-assigned EL of ~2 appropriate or should it be higher? (counting in the 4 archers would only up it to an EL of 3) The party was composed of 4x 2nd-lvl characters, all of whom were experienced gamers. Now, grant you, the DMG defines an EL=party level to be "challenging" and as "one that should expend about 20% of their resources."

(A Warlock would have eaten the Kobold Spartans for lunch, with his teammates along just to be distractions...)

I discovered the bit about squeezing and that drove me NUTS! I had really wanted them to be at a disadvantage from squeezing, but it wasn't RAW.

Oh, and LC - you would have loved the BBEG they never encountered. A 3rd-lvl Dragonwrought Dragonfire Adept - yes, a blue-scaled fire-breathing kobold - with wings!

All in all, I may rework the adventure and have the kobolds be more Ross-typical - and just throw a lot more at the party.

My daughter is 7. She's been playing 3 years now. She doesn't read well enough to read the rulebooks, but she *remembers* what others read to her. She's been an integral part of our group and most likely always will be. Not everyone likes playing with her in the group all the time, but imo, she frequently does a better job of playing and logically working through things than her 14yo brother. And they are BOTH far more fun to play with than their oldest sis, who is 21. Ah, well.

We started her early, because she *had* two older siblings at home and had already developed a mental grasp on the difference between real and pretend and enjoyed pretending running around being movie characters.

We just wish she could read better so she could make her own durn characters.....

ETA - she was the one who figured out to throw alchem fire at one of the Kobolds w/ Phalanx Fighting in order to break their formation and who remembered the AC5 to throw things at a given square of ground.

you said it yourself:

WARNING: In depth magic system below, massive wall of text.

Gotta give us some time to digest it (once we FIND it).....

I'm a magic-systems junkie. I'll print it off and save it for later review and use and then comment on it.

Said DM did, however, manage to leave out the Kobold warleader - a 3rd-lvl Dragonwrought Dragonfire Adept Kobold...with wings...

And yer right. In retrospect, there should have been a lot more use of overturned tables for a +4 Cover bonus for archers, tanglefoot bags thrown, and so on. I'l- erm, perhaps that DM should save Phalanx Fighting for Goblins, instead.

ETA - the "breastplate +3 bonus" was referring to the fact that as written, they get a +2 from leather armor, so giving them breastplate raised their AC another 3 points.