Tome's page

You see, I know I’m going to hell, no doubt about that. The thing is, I like to have a welcoming committee ready and waiting wherever I go, so I figure I’ll send a couple of you folks to the pit before me. Any volunteers?

Buddy, my sword is bigger than you. What do you think is gonna happen when I hit you with it? - Monkey Grip+Half-Giant+Greatsword

Tell me, do you know what happens when you raise the temperature of a troll’s internal organs to an excess of 1080 degrees? Of course you don’t, you’re a Troll. I can promise you it will be very uncomfortable though. - Mage

You’re a gnome right? You can probably smell the bat guano in my pocket, can’t you? Then why exactly are you picking a fight with a mage this early in the morning! - Mage

Now you could spend your last few seconds of life trying to stab me with that toothpick of yours, but that’d be a waste of time. Mostly because you’re about to be eaten by a dragon. Everyone say hello to Ctarmocanix. - NPC

Have you ever heard of the theory of spontaneous arcane ignean invocation? No? No matter, you’ll burn just the same. - Mage

You have ten seconds before I paint the inside of this cave a charming shade of red. Wait a second, you’re a Mind Flayer, that’d make it more of a blue-purple colour right?

A few comments, mostly for mages.

What if the demon (or any 'evil' creature) were summoned and magically bound (i.e. Quest, Wish, etc) to perform a specific 'good' task, like destroying another demon, for example, then banished upon that task's completion...no harm done? Why would that be considered 'evil' and deserving of punishment as opposed to summoning a 'good' creature to do exactly the same thing? Might a chaotic good diety, for example, support an 'ends justify the means' type of activity? Just wondering.

It all depends on how much you're playing up the "demons are evil incarnate" thing. If demons are literally the metaphysical force of evil given form then you're bringing the very essence of evil onto the material plane and thus tainting it in some way. If not, then yeah there's bound to be a chaotic good deity with that philosophy.

P.S. I remember seeing something somewhere about summoning demons and casting evil spells being evil acts and thus changing your alignment just like slaughtering hapless civilians would.

I might add that coincidentally I'm looking at the Justicar (Complete Warrior's) or Bloodhound (Complete Adventurer's) as a prestige class prior to taking Cavalier. (we're doing a campaign where fighter's get bonus mounted feats) it's looking more and more like the Urban Ranger- unless it's the Revised- isn't as worthwhile since Track and Survival, as well as Enduarance are required for Bloodhound or Justicar (the Justicar is the MOST compatible with Urban Ranger and that's only if Track is taken as a feat).

I think Urban Tracking is one of those feats that can be used in place of another for prerequisites. Like Improved Toughness and Midnight Dodge, Urban Tracking can probably be treated as the Track feat for prerequisites.

You may wish to make it easier to know a creatures name if it's particulary.. legendary. Every bard worth his salt for instance, knows at least one tale involving the tarrasque. He probably doesn't know anything else about it though.

Tome, medium-size creatures can have a maximum of 2 heads (adding +1 head only) with the multi-headed template, and large creatures can have a maximum of 4 heads (adding up to 3 heads) with the template.

What are the sources (including page) for those feats and Necklace, please?
BTW, multiple haste effects (and similar) don't generally stack. I wonder if the above feats do.

^_^ Guess I should toss the four-headed half-dragon.

I've checked and apart from an error with rapidstrike all the other feats/gear stacks. All of the gear and feats are from either Savage Species, Races of the Dragon or the Draconomicon.

To be exact:
Necklace of Natural Weapons, Savage Species, pg 58. (weapon abilities to natural weapons)
Rapidstrike and Improved Rapidstrike, Draconomicon, pg 69. (extra attacks with a pair of natural weapons)
Dragon Tail, Races of the Dragon, pg 98. (dragonblood gains a tail attack)
Prehensile Tail, Savage Species, pg 38. (use tail like an extra hand)
Speed, Dugeon Masters Guide, pg 225. (extra attack with a weapon)
Multiheaded template, Savage Species, pg 124. (extra heads and treat all seconary weapons as though they were primary weapons)

And here's the corrected Half-Dragon:
Two Headed Half-Dragon Half-Human Fighter 14 (ECL 22, CR 19)

2 Bites
+"Rapidstrike" and "Improved Rapidstrike" feats
+ Necklace of Natural Weapons (2x "Speed" quality)
=6 Bites

2x 4 weapon attacks
+"Dragon Tail" and "Prehensile Tail" feats
+ 3x "Speed" magic weapons
=15 weapon attacks

= Total of 21 Attacks

Alternately, you could save yourself a great deal of difficulty and just use Forcecage instead. :)

^_^ I forgot that forcecage doesn't allow a saving throw. This strategy does have the advantage of being able to trap the party's spellcasters in there with the frenzied berzerker though.

I'm pretty loose about what races are available for PC's, so long as they don't get in the way of the party working together. That means Aasimar and Half-Celestials are a yes and Tieflings and Half-Fiends are a no. I tend to remind PC's what exactly they're giving up for their level ajustment, so no one ever play with an adjustment of more than +1 if they're going to be a spellcaster. I allow any race of +1 LA or lower as automatic and +3 LA races only if the PC's can come up with a reasonable justification for adventuring. This is mostly because of my penchant for oddball characters (my favorite race is Thri-Kreen!), but any player that plays a race just for the abilities and acts just the same as a human soon finds him/herself turned into a human to befit their persona. I will never allow PC's to apply more than one template of to apply a template to a monstrous race however, as such thing are just too ridiculous to be anything more than a one-in-a-billion chance and are just plain ridiculous.

So no, I'm not an Iron-Fisted DM and I enjoy playing unusual races as a player. After all, this game is about getting away from reality and if I wanted to be a human slinging a sword around I'd go into the back garden and swing a sword around. I want to be a half-dragon who can scour the earth with dragon fire or a thri-kreen who can leap small mountains when I play, not me with extra HP.

An unusual tactic for deling with Frenzied Berzerkers:
1.Get him/her down to -10 hp.

2.Have two 17th level wizards teleport in and each cast "Wall of Force" and another, quickened, "Wall of Force". Ensure that the Walls of Force form a four sided prison to contain the Frenzied Berzerker, if you can manage to catch the party's spellcasters in there with him/her then all the better.

3. Have the two wizards prevent the rest of the party from removing the Walls of Force and simply let the Frenzy wear off.

4.Point out that the two wizards were only CR 18 and laugh. Maniacaly. Until everyone else leaves the room.

An idea popped into my head whilst I was experimenting with thri-kreen and the Mighty Leaping feat fromsavage species. What happens when you add the Multi-headed template to a Thri-Kreen? A maximum of 24 attacks per round, that's what.

Here's the math:
Two-Headed Thri-kreen Fighter 12 (ECL 20, CR 15)

2 Bites
+ Necklace of Natural Weapons (2x "Speed" quality)
=4 Bites

4x 4 weapon attacks
+ 4x "Speed" magic weapons
=20 weapon attacks

= Total of 24 Attacks

And I then Decided to apply a similar process to a Half-dragon:
Two Headed Half-Dragon Half-Human Fighter 14 (ECL 22, CR 19)

2 Bites
+"Rapidstrike" and "Improved Rapidstrike" feats
+ Necklace of Natural Weapons (2x "Speed" quality)
=8 Bites

2x 4 weapon attacks
+"Dragon Tail" and "Prehensile Tail" feats
+ 3x "Speed" magic weapons
=15 weapon attacks

= Total of 23 Attacks

Four Headed Half-Dragon Half-Human Fighter 10 (ECL 23, CR 20)

4 Bites
+"Rapidstrike" and "Improved Rapidstrike" feats
+ Necklace of Natural Weapons (2x "Speed" quality)
=16 Bites

2x 4 weapon attacks
+"Dragon Tail" and "Prehensile Tail" feats
+ 3x "Speed" magic weapons
=15 weapon attacks

= Total of 31 Attacks

Now that's overwhelming!

I think the addition of more detail to the MM IV is a good thing, I'd buy it if it weren't for the fact that my local hobby shop (the only one I know of that sells DnD sourcebooks) has a lousy selection. Seriously, there are like 10 books in the store at any one time and half of them are duplicates. I was lucky to not have to wait a year for the Fiendish Codex I.

Curse you Antics (name of store)! Curse you!

The Spawn of Tiamat seem interesting, but the naming scheme is horrible I must agree.

The idea of a book on fey is interesting, since I am a big fan of Feytouched and Half-Fey (I have a copy of the old Savage Progressions articles from the website saved to my hard drive). That and the fact that I typically use Fey to represent the forces of chaos rather than Slaad. Chaos is variation and change, so why in the nine hells are there so few Slaad and all of them are the same? I'm pretty sure chaos can do better than "giant greedy toad" everytime it creates a new outsider.

-Tome, real life Anarchist and Chaoist.

In the event of a Wild Surge, she rolls d10000 (4d10 lined up) on the Net Libram of Random Magical Effects, which includes such gems as "One Random Creature within Range acquires a Widescreen Television", "Caster is Invisible but clothes she wears are not", and "Magical Healing causes caster's sex to change", along with more overt threats/benefits such as the target being change to solid platinum or a fire elemental taking up residence in the caster's lungs.

So where may I find this Libram? It sounds a lot better than the normal wild magic effect and would probably go well with my Anarchic Initiate.

I'm a Chaotic Good Half-Orc Fighter. It's pretty acurate except for the part about "Half-Orc", I prize mental strength over physical strength nd would thus expect something more... intellectual. The rest is pretty damn true.

I do however have one problem with the test, the weapon selection. It lacks HAMMERS and SPEARS! It took a lot of effort to learn to wield two warhammers at once and I want to be able to pick that option.

I am currently frustrated by the lack of good rollercoaters at alton towers (big theme park), apart from oblivion they were all so bloody slow. 'Cept Nemesis was kinda good 'cause it looked like something out of the Far Realm, I'm certain whoever designed the theme of that ride had played DnD and that rocks.

I also hate my crap memory, why do I have to have no sense of time? This is particularly bad since I'm away from home for awhile and forgot to pick up my prescription hayfever tablets. Chaos-damned british weather, we're supposed to have rain in summer! Not a bloody heat wave! The entire reason I like my country (besides it being my country of origin) is the rain and clouds. I want my foggy and misty days back!

I hate that my nice heavy boots broke and I have to wear my trainers. The plus side is that now I can try and get some proper biker boot thingies and really put some dents in things.

If you're going to focus on your shapeshifting later then I'd recommend Alertness or Endurance, the prequisite feats for the Master of Many Forms prestige class. I once played a Gnome Master of Many Forms and it was helluva fun when combined with a sizing weapon and power attack. (Yay for cloud giants and trolls!)

Wish spell. *nods sagely*

The Wish spell allows spell resistnce and is thus covered by the golem immunity to magic. I've consulted Savage Species and discovered that such a creature would be Undead rather than a Construct, and thus vulnerable to Disruption weapons and Greater Arrows of Slaying (Undead).

Tome, you may want to clarify as to whether the "light weapon" you mentioned is a "light melee weapon" - or does this feat include ranged weapons as well?

Something to think about!

Sorry, I had to catch a train as soon as I finished typing that post and didn't get a chance to check it over. I've revised it and added a few complementary feats, what do you folks think of them?

Calculated Offence
You are able to calculate the opponent's movements and plan your attack properly, even in the midst of a heated battle.
Prerequisites: INT 13, DEX 13, Concentration 4 Ranks, Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: You add your Intelligence modifier to all attack rolls with light weapons with which you are proficient. You do not apply your Strength bonus (if any) but continue to apply your STR penalty (if any) when you use this feat.
Special: Any effect that would cause you to require a concentration check for casting spells, requires you to succeed on a DC 15 Concentration (or the DC of the spell, whichever is higher) check or lose the benefit of this feat until your next turn.

Calculated Shot
You are able to calculate the opponent's movements and plan your attack properly, predicting the path they will take to escape your fire and correcting accordingly.
Prerequisites: INT 13, Spot 2 Ranks, Concentration 4 Ranks, Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: You add your Intelligence modifier to all attack rolls with ranged weapons with which you are proficient. You do not apply your Dexterity bonus (if any) but continue to apply your Dexterity penalty (if any) when you use this feat.
Special: Any effect that would cause you to require a concentration check for casting spells, requires you to succeed on a DC 15 Concentration (or the DC of the spell, whichever is higher) check or lose the benefit of this feat until your next turn.

Calculated Defence
You turn your formidable cognitive ability to defence as well as offence, and learn to calculate the enemy's attacks before they occur.
Prerequisites: DEX 13, INT 13, Dodge, Calculated Offence, Concentration 9 Ranks.
Benefit: Whilst wearing no armour and carrying no more than a light load you add your Intelligence modifier to your AC. Any effect or circumstance that would cause you to be denied your Dexterity bonus to AC also causes you to automatically lose the benefit of this feat as well.
Special: Any effect that would cause you to require a concentration check for casting spells, requires you to succeed on a DC 20 Concentration (or the DC of the spell, whichever is higher) check or lose the benefit of this feat until your next turn.

Improved Calculated Offence
Your calculating of combat manuvers becomes integrated with a keen understanding of contempory one-on-one tactics, allowing you to use forethought to your advantage in combat.
Prerequisites: INT 17, DEX 13, Concentration 15 Ranks, Base Attack Bonus +12, Combat Offence.
Benefit: In any round in which you perform a full attack action against an opponent and accept a -1 penalty to attack on all attacks made as part of that full attack, you gain a +2 to attacks against that opponent after your full attack has been completed until the end of your next turn.
Special: Any effect that would cause you to require a concentration check for casting spells, requires you to succeed on a DC 35 Concentration (or the DC of the spell, whichever is higher) check or lose the benefit of this feat until your next turn.

I love the idea of Truenamers (thanks I'm sure to Ursula K. LeGuin) but I hate the idea that a class be dependant on a magical item (amulet of the silver tongue) to use a class ability effectively, especially when the item grants such an abrubt bonus (before a truenamer can afford an amulet he just can't seem to pull off a successful check, but the moment he can afford an amulet he can hardly fail). I had the same problem as you at one point so I did the math and discovered that I could get rid of the amulet but lower the Truespeak DC to 15 + (1.5 x CR). The result provides a pretty even progression of truespeak success.

Really? Thanks for that tip, if that works I'll definatly try and convince my DM to give it a go... and use it the next time I DM.

I'm currently working on some underwater encounters and NPC's as a result of recently aquiring the Races of Destiny book and reading the small section on Sea Kin, However I am currently away from my normal dwelling for a while and forgot to bring the Dungeon Masters guide. I have most of the relevant material memorized save the rules for underwater combat. Could one of you kind fellows please refresh my mind on the rules regarding underwater engagements? Advice on what sort of feats/skills/items are useful for amphibious combatants would be much apprecited.

Many thanks fellows.

P.S. If anyone can tell me where Sea Kin have previously appeared and/or provide some additional information on them it would be most helpful.

Assuming a "Best Case" Scenario, a 20th Level Grey Elven Truenamer will have an intelligence of 36 (18 rolled, +2 Racial, +5 from Leveling, +5 Inherent, +6 Enhancement), for a +13 Int Modifier. with 23 Ranks, Skill Focus, and the Greater Amulet of the Silver Tongue, that makes for a +49 on Truespeak checks. An NPC Truenamer will (again, best case scenario) have an Intelligence in around 30, (same as the PC's, except with a 15 starting Int and only a +2 Inherent bonus), putting him at +46.

You forgot to count in the fact that there are spells and utterances that can give bonuses to skill checks, in the case of utterances there's Universal Aptitude for a +5 bonus to a selected skill for five rounds. I'm pretty sure that there are cleric spells that provide similar bonuses but for longer. Another feat that can help is Focused Skill User (+2 bonus whilst psionically focused, from Complete Psionics) which makes a psionic race an interesting choice.

In actual combat it's probably best to rely on Use Magic Device and save your utterances for problem solving, pre-combat buffing and post-combat healing. A level of Exemplar (Complete Adventurer) adds a +4 bonus to truespeak and lets you take 10 on checks.

No, no... go with it. It sounds interesting. Would you mind building that feat a bit? I'd be curious to see a honed description. These are all good.

It reminds me of some ability of some class or other that if they make no move in the first round they have a bonus to their attack roll afterward, as they've sized up the enemy's motions and fighting style.

'Kay.

Calculated Offence
You are able to calculate the opponent's movements and plan your attack properly, even in the midst of a heated battle.
Prerequisites: INT 13, DEX 13, Concentration 4 Ranks, Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: With all light weapons you add your Int modifier to all attack rolls with light weapons with which you are proficient rather than your STR modifier.
Special: Any effect that would cause you to require a concentration check for casting spells, requires you to succeed on a DC 15 Concentration (or the DC of the spell, whichever is higher) check or lose the benefit of this feat until your next turn.

I personally think that truenamers are overly complicated. Shadow casters and binders are much easier to run.

Played a truenamer once for a short while, wasn't that comlicated once you got used to making a skill check every turn. And yeah, you do have to remember that simply maxing out the truespeak skill is not gonna cut it at higher levels.

Interestingly, Truenamers can work well in the place of clerics even from if you chose the right utterances.

Is there a happy 40-y-o virgin?

Gimme another 20 years or so and I'll be able to answer yes.

Now on to my rant, or to be more exact, my list of things that really tick me off:

I hate that every time I watch the news I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

I hate how people always glorify their memories and forget that things probably sucked back then.

I hate how honour and compassion are seen as a sign of weakness by a lot of people. That a great many folks think that morals and concepts such "good" and "justice" belong in books and games, that few people do things today simply because they hold a shred of compassion for their fellow man.

It occaisonally irks me how the majority of pronouns for describing our race as a whole are male, eg "modern Man". But not often, just occasionally.

I hate having to be the voice of not just reason, but compassion understanding and tolerance as well. I'm a madman people, I should not have to be the one using common sense, but because I always remember that people are people, regardless of how stupid, ignorant and annoying they are, I have to play the counterpoint to peoples irrational hatreds and impulse decisions. Insensitive pricks, I’m the one who was born with my brain wired differently I should be the one who gets to do all stupid and fun crap but nooo, I had to listen to all those tales about honour, chivalry and doing good as a child and take them to f*%&ing heart.

I get annoyed at how the caps lock key on my keyboard is right next to the shift key. Makes it so easy to hit by accident.

I hate how nothing in society ever makes sense once I think about it, and yet the people with the power to do something about it just say “that’s just the way it is”.

I can’t stand people who continuously complain about thing they can easily change.

I hate people who are not just ignorant but actively refuse to learn and base their actions on their wildly incorrect estimations, people who assume so much and never realize that nothing is ever certain, particularly the basis for their prejudices and discrimination.

I can’t stand how I can never hate someone once I meet them face to face, make it so hard to be properly angry at someone who hasn’t gone out of their way to piss me off. G%*&++ned empathy crap.

I really hate how modern culture seems to be focused on sex, gender, relationships and all that crap. It pisses me off because everyone assumes that because "die a virgin" is on my to-do list I must be some sort of loser freak. No one ever assumes correctly that it could be because I'm, oh I don't know, ASEXUAL, and therefore couldn't give a damn. That said, that whole sex thing is just plain hilarious from an outsiders point of view (see the film “Omen”).

Stupid people just bug the hell out of me, except when they’re legitimately disabled, in which case I just wish I could help.

I hate how I’ve probably managed to stumble over my words and come off whiney, immature or six years younger than I am.

I hate those a@@holes who forget that, like it or not, things are gonna change and you had best get used to it.

I hate b$&)%*t, and lately it seems I’m wading in it whenever I turn on the news.

I hate modern society, I’m not saying it’s evil or anything, I just wish there was a viable alternative where everything wasn’t so f%(*&d up.

It scares me how ridiculous the nominally most powerful nation on earth is and how moronic both their leadership is and the people who continually vote said leadership into power are.

I hate people who can’t just grin and bear it, who can’t just walk off those little scrapes and bruises. ‘Fer entropy’s sake yer not three year olds ya b^“)£$!ds.

I hate American culture. I hate to tell all the americans out there, but to a majority of the rest of the world your country comes off as arrogant, self-obbsessed and a little retarded. I don't have a problem with the people (hell, I've even got american cousins) but the country and culture come off as being made of jerks. I know this is incorrect, but that's how it seems from the outside folks. (and I've never played world of warcraft and what have you that much).

I dislike online games, they always seem to suck unless you can find a group of good roleplayers.

I hate people who don’t at least TRY to spell correctly, you all took English classes for at least a few years right?

I hate people who assume that just because I ascribe to the above philosophy that I don’t try to change things, I simply don’t it bother me when I fail to change them to the better.

I hate people who think I’m joking when I say that I actually know what a berserker rage feels like, it feels like crap afterwards.

I LIKE cute little puppy dogs, Buddhists and quiet peaceful places. Conversely I also like mosh pits, swords and loud rock music at three A.M. Does this make me insane? No, the insanity makes me insane (though the conversations with myself help).

(holy c%$p, I took so long to type this the thread is on a new page!)

Ya know, that sounds like exactly what insightful strike does in terms of what it represents (using intellect to place attacks on weaker areas) but doesn't seem to follow with how it works rules wise. Maybe making it more along the lines of calculating/predicting the enemy's movements in order to better over come their defences? Sort of like tactics on the fly if you get what I mean through all of my incoherant babbling. Just something that struck me as... discordant.

Otherwise it looks like a great idea for a feat, and when you consider that you can already use wisdom and dexterity for attack rolls it doesn't seem unbalancing.

And there is something close already, the Intuitive Attack exalted feat in the Book of Exalted Deeds, which lets you add your wisdom modifier to attack rolls with simple weapons rather than strength. A pretty good feat for clerics

The interesting thing to note about the Dragon Magic book is that it doesn't seem to be limited to magic, per se, but includes soulmelds and psionic powers as well.

HELL YEAH!

More incarnum? I'm so getting that book.

Just pointing out that there's a new deity in Races of Destiny called Glautru the Seer who has both the Death and Healing domains and is of neutral alignment. Kinda proves beyond all resonable doubt that it's possible to cast both types of spells.

Yeah, there is now too much dragon stuff in D&D (sweet entropy I never thought I'd say/type that) what with that new Magic of the Dragon or somesuch book coming out and all of the spawn of tiamat in the new monster manual. Dragon Shaman was good for a dragon based base class (and helluva fun), the dragon specific spells made sense, the dragon heritage feats coexist with the celestial/fiendish hertige feats and the prestige classes are useful for the most part. But the new stuff? Even I'll admit that wizards is pushing it (and I'm the sort to buy something solely because it has a dragon on it).

I think it's possible to manage if you go by the idea that you don't have to use everything in a campaign, pluss I think most of the dragon stuff is supposed to be relatively rare in campaign worlds. But still, the amount of dragon based supplements is verging on the absurd now.

Thats not going to stop me from buying supplements just because they have the word dragon in the title though. Because I'm just a big sucker for anything scaly, flying and able to breathe fire, y'know?

Pah! He's got nothing on my half black dragon, half brass golem lich troll cleric. He takes all damage except fire and acid as nonlethal, but as undead he's immune to nonlethal. As half-dragon he's immune to acid, and as half-golem he's actually healed by fire - that, and immune to magic. He's immune to all damage and magic!

Can anyone actually think of a way to kill such a beast? The only thing I can think of is some sort of instant death spell of the conjuration school (There has to be at least one). Or some sort of anti-construct spell/mace of smiting.

The Far Realms are NASTY, what with the complete and utter madness inherrant in the place.

Limbo is also a bad place to be if your DM portrays it a certain way. Particulary when it's an unexpected trip (whenever my PC's encounter someone who seems remotely like an Anarchic Initiate they either run or end it in the first round).

Mind you, the two are pretty similar 'cept the Far Realms are worse. Much worse.

The Plane of Fire and the Negative Energy Plane are also bad places to be when unprepared. Virtually any plane that is innately harmful to PCs is a bad place to be without some form of protection.

Yikes! That’s a powerful creature.

Yes, but is it as powerful as the 60th level character it belongs to?

Yeah, but it's tough to justify taking Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Human Shaped Club. Besides, you have to care and feed for the monk while he's in the holster.

^_^ Next time I play a comedy based game I am SO playing a Half-Giant or Half-Orc with that feat. And probably Leadership in order to have a good supply of weapons. Maybe change it to "Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Elf Shaped Club" if I go with the Half-Orc...

Can you imagine an Ogre picking up the Fighter and using him as a club? Sounds absolutely hilarious to me.

I wonder what the stats would be for that?

Tome, did you realize Thri-Kreen can achieve 15 attacks per round by 20th level? With any full base attack class:

Using the multiweapon fighting feat tree, each off-hand gets 3 attacks, primary hand gets 4 attacks, a bite attack and +1 for haste

Yeah, they can be sort of overwhelming with multiweapon fighting, but they do have a +2 level adjustment and start out as 4th level characters even without class levels. Plus that build requires you to use three feats, a spell and have four weapons, which can be very expensive if you want all of them to be of decent enhancement. It costs 9240 gp for 4 +1 Shortswords, that's quite a bit for just a +1 enhancement, and the bite will likely have no enhancement unless you come across an amulet of mighty fists, which is also quite expensive. Factor in the the penalties for multiweapon fighting and the +2 level adjustment and the average multiweapon thri-kreen has an attack bonus 4-6 points behind an equivalent greatsword wielding fighter, enough that missing is a bit of balancing factor in a full attack. The fact that you've probably neglected your defences may also be a bit of a problem.

Hell, the four armed thing is probably responsible for half of the level adjustment.

Not much of a factor for two of the three Thri-Kreen I've played though. One was a Favoured Soul, another was a Greatsword wielding Psychic Warrior (boy, could that guy move) and the final one did use multi-weapon fighting.

The real reason I like them is that they're just so oddball, what with their clicks-and-whistles language, occaisionaly unpronounceable names, alien mindset and just being plain freaky looking. I love the short lived, bouncing-all-over-the place crazy bug people. They rock ^_^. Just as much as dragons in fact, which means I need a thri-kreen t-shirt to augment my dragon ones ^_^.

If it's saving throws that are the problem then go for rays and touch effects, if the PCs are the sort to load up on heavy armour for AC then you shouldn't have too much of a problem hitting them and a good number of rays/touch spells don't offer a save or still have a decent effect if the PCs make their saves. Ray of Enfeeblement is a good 1st level example.

There is such a thing as taking literature too seriously, even when we're not discussing T.S. Eliot.

True, though if you could see the expression on my face it's usually a big goofy grin to let people know I'm not taking things seriously. This discussion was just for fun anyways.

They are just not needed. They are overspecialized, and could have been made out of regular classes, skills, feats and PrCs.

Really? It seems to me that they're some of the more popular builds that previously required vigourous multiclassing and carefull feat selection stripped down and made into single base classes. In fact, I challenge you to come up with a build that can emulate the knight or dragon shaman. Go on, try it. ^_^

Too true...but as long as people keep buying these books, for whatever reason, WOC's gonna keep pumpin' them out.

True, but remember that the reverse also applies. If you don't want what's in them then no one is forcing you to buy anything. Although I found that the PHBII contained a lot of very good options, including a section on building backgrounds and personalities.

The . . . uh . . . the exact name and spelling is escaping me now. From the Planar Handbook, the ones who've taken the vow of silence . . . Starts with a B . . . ? That was fun . . .

You're thinking of the Buommans.

Githyanki (the ones that favor the Monk class, I always get them confused >.<)

That's the Githzerai.

Let's think... I love dragons and immortality has always been one of my goals so probably a dragon of some sort, probably a brass dragon to match my personality and passion for all things burning. For class I'd like something that depends on my own inner nature, so Psionics or Incarnum, probably an ardent of life, freedom and energy (fire) with the incandescent soul prestige class. Probably have lots of ranks in autohypnosis and the knowledge skills.

If a dragon isn't a possibility then a Half Brass Dragon Thri-Kreen would be awesome to be, what with the jumping and extra arms. So a Half Brass Dragon Thri-Kreen with the Dragon Wings and Dragon Breath feats.

Sorry to all of the dragon haters out there but I like dragons too much to turn down the chance of being one if I ever got it. Hell, I'd settle for being a Half-Dragon Human Commoner 1 if I had to. Failing that a Thri-Kreen Brass Dragon Shaman is probably what I'd be if no form of dragon or half-dragon is available.

So in order of preference:
1.Young Adult Brass Dragon Ardent 2/Incandescent Soul 2
2.Half Brass Dragon Thri-Kreen Ardent 6/ Incandescent Soul 1
3.Thri-Kreen Brass Dragon Shaman 8/Incandescent Soul 1

Probably make my way by blasting things for fun and profit or teaching other people to blast things for fun and profit. Alchemist would be a nifty career as well, or maybe exploring/scouting as a thri-kreen.

Just a thought, but what's evryone's favorite race?

Mine are the Thri-Kreen, because they're just so different and fun to play (plus they speak in clicks and whistles). The fact that they're almost always Chaotic doesn't hurt either.

Yay for the bug people!

I think my stats came out at something like this...

STR 12 Stronger than most but not overly so.
DEX 14 I'm agile enough to jump off walls and impress people with various dexterity based tricks.
CON 8 I kinda have something wrong with my lungs...but I've probably got ranks in Autohypnosis.
INT 16 I'm in the top 5% of the population, I figure that's at least a 16 Intelligence.
WIS 6 or 20 depends on which way you judge it, I'm kinda a little insane so it's either inhumanly high or abysmally low.
CHA 14 I'm pretty likeable, so rather than counting my friends it's easier to count the number of people who don't like me.

And my levels were Fighter 3/Barbarian 1, cause I've got this tendancy to fly into a blind rage when I get into a fight, which happens frequently, and I'm good enough to have yet to lose. Probably have Improved Grapple and Close-Quarters Fighting because of how I fight.

Draconomicon, shmackonomicon! The 2nd edition MM referred to dragons as immortal, though Council of Wyrms had rules for max life spans. Anyway, this is one of those 'DM prerogetive' moments and I say IMMORTAL! After all, we play dungeons & DRAGONS, not tunnels & trolls.

Dragons can be immortal, there's a true-dragon-only prestige class in the dragonomicon called "Dragon Ascendant" that effectively gives dragons divine rank 0 and turns them into gods. That's right, dragons can become gods just by taking levels in a prestige class. Plus it says that dragons rarely die of old age, so maximum age makes very little difference.

And really, when you get right down to it, what's the difference between 4,400 years (average gold dragon maximum age) and immortality?

Sorry to double post, but I found the thinga-ma-bob. They're called Incantations and they're in Urban Arcana and at this address http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/fb/20031021a

Another note, in most settings it's not illegal to be evil so when the PCs start butchering random people in the street that's just what they've been doing, butchering random people in the street, not smiting evil.

The only time this doesn't apply is when an Evil NPC is infiltrating a group that has alignment based abilities like paladins and clerics, but such people have access to Undetectable Alignment so...

A varient usage of Nystul's Magic Aura (1st level sorcerer/wizard spell) to make a non-magical item radiate good could disguise the character who wore it's alignment.

If you do end up taking away the detect evil class feature of a paladin, be sure to be more leniant when they associate with evil NPCs and accidently kill good NPCs that get in their way.

Going strictly by the rules, the bard is using song or poetics for inspire courage no matter what perform skill he has ranks in. It's stupid I know, but that's the rule.

An Xeph for race, and Fighter or Scout depending on what sort of fighting style you're looking for. Fighters have all sorts of bow tricks for just standing there and putting arrows in people and scouts are the best for fighting on the move. Order of the bow initiate or similiar prestige classes make good choices.

Players Handbook: Mommy, Mommy! There are anti-divinitation spells coming out of my ass.
DMG: That's okay sweetie, most people won't notice them because the PCs don't have to use them often.

Sorry if that's a little over sarcastic, but Undetectable Alignment is a first level spell for bards and a second level spell for clerics and paladins. That makes it alot easier to hide evil alignments, and there's lots more spells for wizards and sorcerers who only have a very faint aura until tenth level, because Detect Evil is a divinitation spell and there are plenty of ways to stop divinitation spells.

If worst comes to worst, simply give them an Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location or, better yet, a custom made item that provides a continous Undetectable Alignment effect.

Again, sorry if I was a little sarcastic ^_^.

They most certainly were called horseless carriages. Do a google for both "horseless carriage" and "internal combustion wagon" and see what you get for each.

Like I said, I find the name to be pretty pathetic, but your mileage may vary.

Heh, guess you're right. But I maintain that the exact name makes little difference, "Horseless Carriges" still sounds like, as you said, "a term a fifth grader would use when writing a story about D&D characters traveling to the modern world and seeing a subway". Which is the point, when we invented cars we didn't call them cars, we called them something simple and descriptive. For example, if we'd invented monorails back then we'd... oh, wait, we do use a simple descriptive name for them don't we? ^_^ bad example.

Oh well, I hope you get the idea, and I guess we'll just have to disagree on this ^_^. No hard feelings?

How hard wishes are really depends on two factors:

1.If the players aren't casting the wish and the person who is isn't their ally (like a monster bound to follow their commands i.e. an efreet) then the monster is obviously going to misinterprit the wish a musch as possible.

2.What the player is actually asking for, cause a +10 Flaming Blast Greatsword is kinda gamebreaking at 17th level.

Your point about how if there are always world changing catclysms happening the why hasn't one succeed actually has an answer. Simply put, it does, the fiendish codex mentions how lolth absorb conquered material planes into her layer of the abyss. And all the other things that would be felt all across the multiverse? That's probably when the celestials step in I should imagine, that or the fact that with infinite sized planes the effects of certain events might take a while to spread and there is, given infinte worlds, going to be someone who can reverse it.

That might be an interesting idea for a campaign, heroes in an alternate material plane fail to prevent the erasure of everything and the PCs have to undo the mistake befor the effect reaches their world.

Got a source on that? I've never heard cars called "internal combustion wagons." The original marketing name was "horseless carriage."

Nope, just vague recollections of history classes long past about what the inventors called them, I don't think they were ever called horseless carriges, described yes but not actually called that. And incidentaly, how is "Horseless Carrige" any less of a term that, and I quote, "a fifth grader would use when writing a story about D&D characters traveling to the modern world and seeing a subway." I've seen several tales of that exact type using that exact term. ^_^ (I need to stop proofreading my little sisters homework)

Too true, I think the Rituals might have been in something on the WotC d20 Modern website by the way. It was one or the other. I'm just gald that warriors have their uses at high levels, since a wizard can bake like fifteen people at once in a single fireball. And at epic levels you have things like the intensify spell feat, which is pretty much 4x average damage, so even a fireball does like 120 damage.

I had a friend of mine who, the first game session after his wizard learned to cast wish, reached into his bag and pulled out this exacting, three page transcription of exactly what he wanted to wish for, handed it to the the DM and said "I wish for this". The DM replied "Okay, a few pieces of paper exactly the same as the ones in your hand appear in the hands of your character". Pow, there went 5000 xp down the drain. So then my friend, not one to be discouraged, says "no, my character's wish is what I've written down". Then the DM tells him "sorry, you've got to read it aloud". My friend goes "Oh, F*&% it", the DM replies "Okay, a Succubus appears. You do know you have summoning spells for this sort of thing?". We all start looking at the DM strangely and he says "What? Would you have preferred a Nymph?" ^_^

I think I saw something for ritual magic somewhere regarding d20 modern, maybe you could implement that system if you want ritual magic in your games? I think it was in Urban Arcana or something.

And yeah, even the ELH has an option for changing the ability for spellcraft, because at twentieth level it's probably a +10 modifier on your primary spellcasting ability.

The justification for epic spellcasting is that the character supposedly achieves a higher understanding of the universal, primal nature of magic.

I believe the resistance problem is there to decrease the hazards of save-or-die spells, which can really slow the game down if every turn the enemy kills off yet another PC.