You took a wrong turn somewhere - you're in the 4e boards. I alerted the authorities to come and deport your post. In the meantime, let's see:
Recently my character got a weapon, after a while I (out of character) figured out that it avoids damage reduction sometimes. The GM confirmed this later. He said that it acts as if under a 'bless weapon' when fighting a giant sized opponent.I asked him if he meant some sort of 'Giants Bane' but he said that it applied to oversized targets such as dragons, large demons, and giants.
Giant sized can mean many things: It can be anything size large or larger (large, huge, gargantuan, colossal), or something that is a large specimen of its kind (like a giant eagle which is a lot larger than normal eagles).
Anyway, there is no fixed definition of "giant-sized" in the rules.
I looked in my core book and player book but could not find anything about size of targets. Did the GM make this up? I am not an expert so I don't know. It would be good to have a list. Is this something that is in the monster book?
It sounds like the GM invented a magic item of his own. Either that or there's something I don't know about right now.
Note that bless weapon usually lets you overcome DR/good and DR/magic (the latter only if the enemy is evil).
I'd ask the GM to be a bit more precise. How does the ability work precisely? Is it against all enemies larger than yourself, or everyone of size large? What kinds of DR will it bypass?
On a less important note the GM has some of the players looking for a 'true grimoire'. I have a lot more respect for that because I think it is more of a quest set up and does not automatically have to do with the game rules. But if that is in a book we would like to read about it.
I haven't read about any magic item/artifact called True Grimoire / Grimorium Verum in Pathfinder, but google the term and you'll find lots of pages about the real-world version.
hmmmm....
I hate it when my players start fact checking my inventions in a game to see if they comply with the rules. If the DM says an item does what it does, than thats it. If I dont want to use standard items out of the book, that should not violate your groups provision that you ALL are going to play by the same Pathfinder rules. Mechanics is one thing, but basically you are dictating to the DM what he is doing in the campaign. YOU might as well just RUN the game yourself.
You write on your sheet EXACTLY what he tells you... nothing else. You don't go pouring through the books just so you can go RULES LAWYER on him. If he tells you to write down... Bypasses GIANTS DR occasionally... than thats what the power is as far as your concerned.
I am grumpy.... eccckkk
As a DM and a player I agree with you to an extent, but I have also played under enough DM's to have to check behind them. It really depends on the DM, and some DM's are ambiguous(usually not intentionally) about what they mean.
I think he should have asked the DM instead of coming to the boards though unless he has a DM that can't be questioned.
Why? What are you checking behind your DM's back for? If you have a problem with the way a DM is handling something, why aren't you dealing with him or her face to face?
As a DM and a player I agree with you to an extent, but I have also played under enough DM's to have to check behind them. It really depends on the DM, and some DM's are ambiguous(usually not intentionally) about what they mean.
In one case the DM had a habit of mixing rules from editions in. He had written houserules, and the situation was not on of them. I don't mind house rules, and I understand there will be special cases, but this was not one of them. I like consistency, later on that he said he mixed other rules in, which is not an issue. I just wish I would have known that.
I like to check first because I did not want to look silly accusing a DM of getting a rule wrong. At the time he still knew the rules better than I did.
When I DM I also like players to have the information ready when they call me on something. That saves me the time of having to look it up.
PS:I have not had to check a DM as often as I made it sound. I have had 1 or 2 other DM's that were story oriented, which I don't mind, but the campaign was presented as gritty so I curious when the party was not dying in the these difficult(overly difficult) encounters. I eventually figured this out. The difficulty was supposed to be an illusion to make the players think they were doing well. If I had not checked and figured out the dice were being fudged I would not have known to power down a highly optimized character I had made. The other players were definitely feeling inferior(well by comparison of their characters to mine) which I found out by accident. In short sometimes it should be done.
As Lupine's group is doing, the rules are there to help gameplay fair and to an extent clear. If I go about using Identify on a magic item, which is supposed to reveal the clear function of a magic item in most cases, and I get told it is Blessed against Giants, in a game where I trust the GM to be going exactly by the wording, then I know that it functions like the Bless spell against Giants (a.k.a the Giant sub-type) and nothing else.
The fact that the GM said it applied also to "oversized" targets brings that assumption into question.
In English the mechanics of the weapon should have followed up the fluff description.
This is a blessed sword against giant creatures. It counts as good and magical for overcoming damage reduction when used against creatures of large size or larger.
The bold words are key game term words that have very specific meaning.
The other case:
This is a blessed sword against giants. It counts as good and magical for overcoming damage reduction when used against creatures with the giant subtype.
Two very different, though likely overlapping weapons.
To find out if he is wrong or not before you go getting all confrontational about it.
A little fact gathering before coming across potentially as a jerk is never a bad thing.
-S
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You can ask questions without provoking a confrontation. And this forum is not neccessarily the best place to find THE TRUTH. Players these days, if there's anything I hate about the legacy of 3.x is the perceived necessity to rules lawyer the GM, when players pack more rulebooks than the GM does.To find out if he is wrong or not before you go getting all confrontational about it.
A little fact gathering before coming across potentially as a jerk is never a bad thing.
-S
Well, it does not sound like he is Rules-Lawyering the DM. It sounds like he (A new player to PF) is curious about (a) the mechanics of said item, and (b) whether his DM is showing some creativity in creating a unique magic item.
There really isn't a 'Foul' on this one. If we need a comparison:Lupine didn't cheat on his wife, he peeked at the Christmas Presents.
Might it ruin some of the fun of knowing just what his character has? Yes.
Will it cause any serious damage in his game? No.
I am almost always the DM in our games, and I understand the frustration of DMs who feel that they players are trying to get one over, gain the upper hand, etc...by perusing forums for 'win' combos or loopholes, but asking a community of fellow players if they have heard about a magic item is hardly at fault. I have one player (Who is a great RPer, usually) who just wants the bonus/abilities of anything found, to tally and figure out a cost for, sales-wise. I (Again, as the DM) like to describe items, remain vague about some abilities, because most of the players really enjoy this style of DMing. I also (the rare time that I get to play) end up in a game with a friend who sometimes Literally has tags on the items, telling you what they are.
:|
-Uriel
PS: Our Rules-Lawyer is a great asset, as he has made it his Quest to know every 3.5-PF change. Allows me to tell a story, and have someone else fact-check or sometimes correct me/the other Players when we screw up. I'm a RAW guy for anything that we haven't specifically House-Ruled different (We use 3.0 Missiles can hit your allies rules, for example), and a Rules-lawyer can be a good thing as well.
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I have no problem with my players looking up things they have access to IE the Core Rulebook. IF I give them an Item I wanted in the world that isn't in the Core (this is very often the case) and they ask I simply tell them what they know about they item. They know my GMing style and know I add a great deal to what is already there but I do not change the games rules. Unique Monsters and Items with plenty of detail keep the campaign new and fresh.
So as a player if you up an item and you do not see it then as has been suggesten often ask the GM if they are vaque then find someone to cast Identify.
Rules lawyer to me is someone who takes joy in confronting a GM to tell them they are wrong. My players will kindly point out something they think I have missed and if they are wrong I correct it. no drama
I have been a GM for 32 years now and have run many different systems so I may mix rules sometimes. My point as I ramble is there doesn't need to be a confrontation about a Rule even one like an items function simply ask them.