Denmark's page

While I love the idea of ability damage, I think that the flat hit-point damage is not understood here.

The hit-point fix isn't there so that SoD spells can be heavy damage-dealers. It is to stop the silliness that is slaying a great wyrm dragon with a single death spell just because it rolled a 1 (or because you messed with the dragon's saves and boosted the DC of the death spell). Big baddies should not be swatted like minions.

While mechanically boring, the damage caps on SoD spells mean that the spells really just work like the old ones, except that creatures with a huge stack of hit-points don't go down in a single spell.

All that said, I think that the CON solution is top-notch, as it is scary, quite deadly, but still allows big baddies with huge CON to survive a round or two.

I've considered the +2 as well. I think that that might actually be the best way to deal with it.

That also makes it fairly easy to handle large creatures and weapons. Poison can be doubled or quadrupled up on larger implements. As long as the weapon and the target are larger, you get +2 on the DC (so cloud giants use up large quantities of poison on their blades, but they also exact much higher DCs upon their targets).

Also, how about letting a single dose cover two blades at a -2 on each? If you hit with both, the +2 returns the dose to its original strength. Thus, a tiny fey that gets some poison off a human can make it go further, although with less effect.

If proposing a rule, I'd run it like this:

When suffering from more than one dose of the same poison, add +2 to the DC of the weakest poison dose for each additional dose if the result is greater than the strongest dose. Otherwise ignore the lesser doses.

For example, if you are bitten by three medium monstrous spiders (DC 12), the DC for the poison is 16. If a medium (DC 12) and a huge (DC 16) monstrous spider bite, the DC remains at 16, because 12 + 2 is not greater. If, however, three medium (DC 12) and a huge (DC 16) monstrous spider bite, the DC is 18.

The implements of a creature larger than medium can hold twice as many doses per category. Large implements hold two doses, huge implements hold four doses, and so forth.

Thoughts? My rules writing definitely needs to be worked on . . .

Since poison is being fixed up in Pathfinder, perhaps some dosage clarification could be given?

I mean, let's say I have ten archers with poisoned arrows. If they all hit with the same poison, is that ten poisonings? With ten saves per round, tracking each poisoning? Now, if ten arrows with the same poison doesn't multiply the damage or saves, how about ten arrows where each arrow has a different poison? That would pretty clearly require tracking ten different poisons, right? One poison doesn't push out another, I wouldn't think.

And then here's another problem: a dose is a dose, right? But shouldn't it take less to poison a small creature, and more to poison a large creature? Does it really take the same amount of poison to coat a halfling's dagger and to coat a titan's longsword?

Have these matters already been dealt with elsewhere such that we can just adopt an existing solution?

Y'all keep looking at the weight and doing the correct math from that. Don't.

A weapon designed for a creature one size category larger needs to be twice as long. While that doesn't jive with the listed weights, oh well. Large is twice as tall as Medium. Medium is twice as tall as Small. Greatswords should be about as tall as the user. So, a greatsword for a Medium creature is probably 6 feet long (or close). A greatsword for a Large creature would be 12 feet long. If you don't follow this rule, you end up with giants using greatswords that are only half their height (or worse!). Imagine a Huge giant (averaging 24 feet tall) using a greatsword. A Huge greatsword should be 24 feet tall.

Of course, this is why it is ridiculous for a Medium creature to use a Large creature's greatsword.

I just discovered Pathfinder with Alpha 3 and just read through it in the last hour. I like a lot of what has been done, especially with Polymorph. I just think that the polymorph spells should be made completely independent of published or known monsters.

I'm talking about these lines from Giant Form I:

If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: darkvision 60 feet, rend (2d6 damage), regeneration 5, rock catching, and rock throwing (range 60 feet, 2d6 damage). If the creature has immunity or resistance to any elements, you gain resistance 20 to those elements. If the creature has vulnerability to an element, you gain that vulnerability.

So, let's say there is a Giant Munchkin of the Giant type that is Large. This Giant Munchkin has darkvision 60 feet, rend (2d6 damage), regeneration 5, rock catching, and rock throwing (range 60 feet, 2d6 damage), immunity to all elements, and vulnerability no elements. Except where trying to impersonate a hill giant or somesuch, the Giant Munchkin is the giant to become when casting Giant Form I. While this is far less of a problem than the old WotC polymorph, it still hasn't completely solved the problem. Why not go all the way? Let's change the polymorph spells to something like this:

You gain your choice of three of the following abilities: darkvision 60 feet, rend (2d6 damage), regeneration 5, rock catching, and rock throwing (range 60 feet, 2d6 damage). If the form you assume has any of the above abilities, you must choose from those before choosing any ability not possessed by the assumed form. You gain resistance 20 to one element. If the creature has immunity or resistance to any elements, you must choose from those. If the creature has vulnerability to an element, you gain that vulnerability and also gain resistance 20 to one additional element.

While the flavor bits that restrict choices along the lines of the assumed form aren't strictly necessary, I put them in in case we want to make sure that when a wizard polymorphs into a frost giant, we can deduce that fire is a good idea to kill him. Also, unless we want to force everyone to take a vulnerability when taking Giant Form, I figure there should be a reward to taking a form with a vulnerability.