Results 91 to 120 of 323
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2012-07-10, 12:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2006
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- Sunnydale
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
The DM is specifically allowed to disagree with magic device trap elements. From DMG page 74:
When you and the player have agreed on what spells and other elements the trap contains, you can determine the cost of the raw materials for the trap and the CR of the trap.
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2012-07-10, 12:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Sunnydale
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
The DM is specifically allowed to disagree with magic device trap elements, and empowered to set the cost. From DMG page 74:
When you and the player have agreed on what spells and other elements the trap contains, you can determine the cost of the raw materials for the trap and the CR of the trap.
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2012-07-10, 12:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
- Location
- On Paper
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
This is more of a personal pet peeve than anything truly broken, but Legion of Sentinels in PHB2. I had a player who was very fond of this spell, which is very difficult to use because nowhere does the spell description actually give stats for the sentinels. The Short description in the Spell List gives their damage, but IIRC the long description, usually very thorough, dosn't tell the DM what exactly to do.
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2012-07-10, 01:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2006
- Location
- Meridianville AL
- Gender
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2012-07-10, 02:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2011
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
That Crab x2
Iron Heart Surge
Truenamer
Dust of Sneezing & Choking x2
Shivering Touch
PaO duration/Alter Self/Polymorph/Shapechange
Trap Sense x2
You'll notice that I added the crab
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2012-07-10, 02:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2011
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Actually, Traps in general deserve a vote for poorly written mechanics.
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2012-07-10, 02:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Location
- In the lab
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Well, first thing, I'm going to put a negative vote towards theAntagonize feat. It's not at-will, it provides a useful effect, and it doesn't work against anything immune to mind effects. It might be a bit MMORPGish, but it's not all that broken.
For for broken things, I'll put in another vote for Cancer Mage, double that if the Festering Hate disease is included in that. As amusing as the concept of the Muscle Wizard is, +2 Str each day is ridiculous.
I'll also toss one toward the Choker and its extra standard action every turn.
Lastly, I'll toss two toward the Sublime Chord, and its full sorcerer+full bard shenanigans, and I'll save the last four for later.Avatar by Doran Liadon
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2012-07-10, 04:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
- Location
- The State of Denial
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
That's fine. I mean the class as a whole, not just the planar bubble feature. There's plenty of other badly designed, broken stuff about it.
I mean the fact that monsters have both level adjustment and racial hit dice, and that the majority of the time, monsters with both RHD and LA are vastly underpowered compared to classes of the same level, while a select few are vastly overpowered compared to classes of the same level.If build a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day.
If you set a man on fire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
My Homebrew
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2012-07-10, 05:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Some awesome discussion going on here.
Already warbladed on this one, but my problem with it is, in fact, that it can't cure the truly nasty conditions, while it can cure stupidly broad and scarcely negative conditions like "I'm a drow and the sun is shining on me". What's a DM supposed to do with that? (At least it's practical to use it to break charm, as AGC shows us; it also shows us another aspect of its wording stupidity, for free!)
I had interpreted JoAT as proof that having a half-skill rank gave you the ability to use the skill, since you were trained in it. I know there's at least one rule that says otherwise, but JoAT might have been intended to override that rule, and they just weren't explicit as they should have been (though again that does qualify as bad writing).
[...]
No argument here; if free metamagic was an easy across-the-board thing it might be cool, but having some able to get it and others not is pretty awful.
I'm not really counting votes; I think it's more like a measure of certainty. I'm putting one vote toward things that I find dubious, two to thinks that are definitely screwy, and would put three toward something that was utterly and completely absurd. I have yet to see anything that I'm certain would be worth three.
Now that is an impressive list. That's right up there with love's pain, in fact. (Which I am going to add, despite having no votes left to put on it.)
Not at present, no; if you really want to do this, make your case for it, and I'll consider.
I don't think it would be too helpful, because the main purpose of downvotes IMO is to even out a few careless entries that don't fit all that well, not to deal with suggestions that many people agree with and some disagree with very strongly. Does that make sense?
Hmm, I don't have Serpent Kingdoms, so you'll have to explain this one to me.
As I see it, this mostly exposes the problem that trap costs don't make a whole lot of sense; they're engineered for a specific use (hurt PCs dungeon-crawling) and don't work well in other niches (hurt NPCs, help NPCs, help PCs, etc). In particular, they're easier and cheaper than wondrous items to break (action/gold/wish) economy with.
The distinction between this and LA rules seems small, but I'll separate out your vote anyway.Projects: Homebrew, Gentlemen's Agreement, DMPCs, Forbidden Knowledge safety, and Top Ten Worst. Also, Quotes and RACSD are good.
Anyone knows blue is for sarcas'ing in · "Take 10 SAN damage from Dark Orchid" · Use of gray may indicate nitpicking · Green is sincerity
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2012-07-10, 06:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Isn't there a race that get's both full Sorcerer and Cleric casting and a bergillion other ability's, so much that it's over powered even for it's insane LA? Can't remember what it's called.
"I Burn!"
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2012-07-10, 06:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Fl
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
I know there was a Black something or other that had Wizard casting on par with the total ECL it gave.
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2012-07-10, 06:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2010
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Avatar by zimmerwald1915
Characters:
Spoiler
Current characters: None, looking for a game.
Homebrew!
Wow, it's been a while. Sorry for the unexplained absence!
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2012-07-10, 06:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
- Location
- The Great White North
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
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2012-07-10, 06:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
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Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
NOW COMPLETE: Let's Play Starcraft II Trilogy:
Hell, It's About Time: Wings of Liberty
Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat: Heart of the Swarm
My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er: Legacy of the Void
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2012-07-10, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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2012-07-10, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Last edited by Amphetryon; 2012-07-10 at 07:13 PM.
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2012-07-10, 07:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2011
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Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
My ten votes will be allocated as follows:
Polymorph and associated spells - 3
Natural Abilities - 2
Contact Other Plane - 2
Truenamer - 1
Diplomacy - 1
Lucid Dreaming skill - 1
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2012-07-10, 07:29 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
...Iron Heart Surge is beating Truenamer? No. Not even kind of sort of, just no.
IHS is somewhat problematic and ill-defined. Truenamer is flat-out missing critical pieces of information and was clearly never tested at all.
Also, anyone who does not list Manipulate Form as #1, it seems to me, is simply wrong.
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2012-07-10, 07:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
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- North Carolina
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2012-07-10, 07:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2011
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Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
For me, most of my things are Core. Truenamer isn't, but it's an entire class that doesn't function. It's the drowning rules of classes. The other is Lucid Dreaming, which can basically allow for risk-free assassination, or, more potently, use Diplomacy without actually ever meeting the target. By sleeping, you can make everyone who's subject to mind-affecting effects while asleep (so maybe when buffs are down!) a Fanatic follower.
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2012-07-10, 07:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
- Location
- The Great White North
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
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2012-07-10, 07:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
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- North Carolina
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Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
I think you misunderstand my issue here. A LA template is LOWER for a CR monster than it is for a player. If memory serves (It might not, I've been playing Pathfinder and GURPS for a while now) a Half-Dragon template adds +2 CR to a monster.. but +3 LA to a player. Why? it's more powerful on a monster, which as you say is there to kill or be killed.
Yes LA, ECL and CR measures completely different things, but once you want to apply a template to something it turns into a huge friggin mess.
And I take back the thing about Favored Souls being the only ones with a split stat, it was meant to be an exaggeration to get my frustration across, but apparently that doesn't work to well when typing in the middle of the night. :p
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2012-07-10, 07:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Sunnydale
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
It is in mine (First Printing: July 2003).
A two sentence SK quote is all I need:
Manyfang Dagger: This +1 dagger looks like a normal masterwork dagger, but when it hits, three phantom blades briefly whirl into existence around the main blade, stabbing and slicing the same target, then winking into nothingness again. A manyfang dagger thus deals quadruple damage on each successful hit, or quintuple damage on a critical hit.Multiplying Damage
Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results. Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage.
Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.
Further shenanigans are possible with a Small character using a Manyfang Dagger sized for a Medium character.The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon (whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered by one step for each size category of difference between the wielder’s size and the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed.
You can see that the Manyfang Dagger's contribution to damage dwarfs that from class features. That item is better than 20 levels of sneak attack from a Rogue, and 20 levels of rage from a Barbarian. As soon as you qualify for Craven (a 1-level Rogue dip) you've got most of the multipliable static bonus. At that point you might as well be a full spellcaster to add other non-dice damage bonuses to get multiplied by the Manyfang Dagger.
Any single item which obsoletes whole classes deserves to be on the list.Last edited by Curmudgeon; 2012-07-10 at 08:05 PM. Reason: typo
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2012-07-10, 08:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
Originally Posted by Curmudgeon
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2012-07-10, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2006
- Location
- Sunnydale
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2012-07-10, 09:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
- Location
- Iceland
- Gender
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
For now... one for each, in no particular order:
- Iron Heart Surge
- Factotum*
- Freedom of Movement
- Truenamer*
- Drowning
*I saw the "no whole classes please" thing, also that they have already made it to the list anyway.
Also, anyone who does not list Manipulate Form as #1, it seems to me, is simply wrong.Halfling healer avatar by Akrim.elf.
My sarcasm is never blue.
Personal stuff: The Diablo 2 game (DMing), BBCode syntax highlighter for KDE
CharOp: Lists of Necessary Magic Items
Homebrew: My proudest achievement, a translation of vancian spellcasting to psionic mechanics. Other brew can be found in my Homebrewer's Extended Signature.
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2012-07-10, 09:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
I know the one I was pointing out was form one of the later/less commonly used books. I think it was one of the later Monster Manuals/setting specific supplements. I've never actually looked at it though, just seen it sited on forums.
"I Burn!"
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2012-07-10, 09:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
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2012-07-10, 09:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2011
- Location
- material & internet plane
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Re: Top Ten Worst-Written Spells, Class Features, Racial Abilities, Feats, Items, etc
To clarify my votes from earlier:
3 each for being clear-cut badly defined effects
Cancer Mage
HH World Throwing
2 for being badly or vaguely written
Precocious Apprentice
Thought Bottle
Removed, since I'm just being nitpicky with these:
Dead condition
Hydra slaying Strike
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2012-07-10, 10:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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- Elsewhen
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