Richard Donnelly's page

As a player I hate "save or die" and I am annoyed when affected by "save or stop". However, I don't mind using "save or stop" on the bad guys.

Having your character die is bad enough, but I always feel that "save or die" robs my character of a heroic death. It is the ultimate anti-climatic way to go. I normally announce my dislike against "save or die" early in the campaign and vow that my character will never use those affects. I've been lucky enough to have GM's that follow my lead.

I have recently decided that most "save or stop" effects are best left as "PC only" powers. I came to this conclusion while running a game recently. My NPC's knocked half of the party out of combat using "save or stop" effects. As a GM, I could tell immediately that I had failed in my obligation to provide my players with an enjoyable evening. I won't do that again. As the GM, I always get to play no matter how many monsters are killed or slept or paralyzed.

I don't happen to play with people who don't mind sitting out of the game for a while (luck of the draw, not a refusal on my part). I don't happen to play with players aren't bothered that their friends are sitting next to them unable to participate in the game.

However, in the past I have played in groups that did enjoy the challenge of having a character survive in a very deadly campaign.

So, my vote goes to "stay & go". Some spells/effects should be labeled as "Hardcore Mode" to alert the GM & players that their use is inappropriate for some groups but not for others. One sidebar proposing some of the alternate rules discussed here could be include to suggest ways to incorporate some hardcore effects in your game in a toned down manner. At conventions, a module could easily be labeled as "hardcore" or "non-hardcore" so everyone signing up knows what they are getting into.

I'm really liking the list of abilities that you can gain in release 2. It's so much quicker than Wizard's "extraordinary abilities" and "spell-like abilities" that brings play to a stop as everyone looks up darkvision to see what category it falls under.

I also like that con scores don't change so there is no recalculation of hit points and fortitude saving throws.

I am, however, not liking that you don't gain the creature's strength score because recalculating the damage the assumed form's natural attacks do will bring play to a stop.

Truth be told, I'd rather not have dex affected at all so you don't have to recalc saving throws or range attack bonuses, and just have the character gain the natural armor of the assumed form [up to a limit set in each spell if deemed necessary] modified by their own dex.