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Judgement Calls: Taking On Unclear Rules
Shadowen
Snores in the morningLoserdomRegistered User regular
Snores in the morningLoserdomRegistered User regular
Ever seen two or more effects working together, or an interesting omission in a rule, and couldn't find hide nor hair of an official ruling on the subject? Ever talked to a developer about it, who shrugged and said it's up to you (or your DM)?
This is the thread for that sort of thing. It can include apparent abuses, logistical omissions, and any other weird rules that you've never been able to get a straight answer for.
Example 1: The Incredible Bone Knight And His Harmlessly Perforated Intestine
The rule: Throughout the character's progresion, a bone knight (Eberron: Five Nations) gains powers that make him more and more like an undead, making him ever harder to kill with anything other than straight damage. When he makes eighth class level, his bone armor fuses to his body and can't be removed without killing him. At this point, he gains a lot of undead immunities.
The weirdness: At not point is the bone knight able to forego eating. That wouldn't be a problem...except he would then have to excrete. And now he can't take his armor off to go to the privy. It could be argued that as he is immune to poison, toxin buildup wouldn't hurt him. However, we then have to ask: what about his digestive tract? Do his stomach and intestines just keep filling and filling until they burst? He still needs to eat, so damage to his digestive tract could eventually be catastrophic, but damaged internal organs seems to be what critical hits are all about, and bone knights become immune to critical hits, too.
The verdict: I actually contacated WotC about this. Their response was that it was up to the DM to make a ruling. (Translated, "We're busy doing 4th Edition and can't be bothered to make rules clarifications for this 3.5 shit anymore." Or maybe that's my bias talking...) I myself have come out with two solutions: 1) the bone knight doesn't have to eat. This makes it simple. 2) the bone knight has to eat, but neither has to excrete nor repair his armor if it's damaged by someone attempting to sunder it, as everything he eats instead goes to keeping his armor healthy and strong, regenerating class level x Con bonus of his armor's hit points per day. This makes it, IMHO, awesome.
Example 2: The Godly Godfeat of Draconic Godliness
The rule:The Vow Of Poverty feat (Book Of Exalted Deeds) gives a shitload of benefits over time to a character who takes it, because D&D 3.5 was highly predicated on your awesome equipment and shit. Being a feat that requires only a good alignment and forsaking all material wealth, it would seem to be a possibly game-breaking feat for a dragon, who don't really need much equipment...if it weren't for that wealth thing, with even gold dragons being slightly avaricious.
The weirdness: Except the Dragon Ascendant prestige class (Draconomicon) requires a dragon to consume its entire hoard anyway. If a dragon's willing to do that, it's probably willing to not accumulate any more wealth. After all, it's a draconic god. It doesn't need wealth anymore. But to become a dragon ascendant, you need to have a hoard value of at least 100,000 gp, and by the time most dragons reach this hoard value they're often at ECL 20 or more--meaning they would gain the benefits of the feat (minus the exalted feats) all in one shot. Is this broken?
The verdict: If you're letting your players become dragon gods, you have worse things on your hands than whether or not Vow of Poverty is even more broken than normal. That being said, why not? If you want to create a truly scary opponent for high-level evil characters, well, can you do better than making a dragon even more powerufl?
Opinions on my judging are welcome, as are (of course) conundrums of your own.
This is the thread for that sort of thing. It can include apparent abuses, logistical omissions, and any other weird rules that you've never been able to get a straight answer for.
Example 1: The Incredible Bone Knight And His Harmlessly Perforated Intestine
The rule: Throughout the character's progresion, a bone knight (Eberron: Five Nations) gains powers that make him more and more like an undead, making him ever harder to kill with anything other than straight damage. When he makes eighth class level, his bone armor fuses to his body and can't be removed without killing him. At this point, he gains a lot of undead immunities.
The weirdness: At not point is the bone knight able to forego eating. That wouldn't be a problem...except he would then have to excrete. And now he can't take his armor off to go to the privy. It could be argued that as he is immune to poison, toxin buildup wouldn't hurt him. However, we then have to ask: what about his digestive tract? Do his stomach and intestines just keep filling and filling until they burst? He still needs to eat, so damage to his digestive tract could eventually be catastrophic, but damaged internal organs seems to be what critical hits are all about, and bone knights become immune to critical hits, too.
The verdict: I actually contacated WotC about this. Their response was that it was up to the DM to make a ruling. (Translated, "We're busy doing 4th Edition and can't be bothered to make rules clarifications for this 3.5 shit anymore." Or maybe that's my bias talking...) I myself have come out with two solutions: 1) the bone knight doesn't have to eat. This makes it simple. 2) the bone knight has to eat, but neither has to excrete nor repair his armor if it's damaged by someone attempting to sunder it, as everything he eats instead goes to keeping his armor healthy and strong, regenerating class level x Con bonus of his armor's hit points per day. This makes it, IMHO, awesome.
Example 2: The Godly Godfeat of Draconic Godliness
The rule:The Vow Of Poverty feat (Book Of Exalted Deeds) gives a shitload of benefits over time to a character who takes it, because D&D 3.5 was highly predicated on your awesome equipment and shit. Being a feat that requires only a good alignment and forsaking all material wealth, it would seem to be a possibly game-breaking feat for a dragon, who don't really need much equipment...if it weren't for that wealth thing, with even gold dragons being slightly avaricious.
The weirdness: Except the Dragon Ascendant prestige class (Draconomicon) requires a dragon to consume its entire hoard anyway. If a dragon's willing to do that, it's probably willing to not accumulate any more wealth. After all, it's a draconic god. It doesn't need wealth anymore. But to become a dragon ascendant, you need to have a hoard value of at least 100,000 gp, and by the time most dragons reach this hoard value they're often at ECL 20 or more--meaning they would gain the benefits of the feat (minus the exalted feats) all in one shot. Is this broken?
The verdict: If you're letting your players become dragon gods, you have worse things on your hands than whether or not Vow of Poverty is even more broken than normal. That being said, why not? If you want to create a truly scary opponent for high-level evil characters, well, can you do better than making a dragon even more powerufl?
Opinions on my judging are welcome, as are (of course) conundrums of your own.
Shadowen on
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