Urthdigger
2009-02-22, 01:31 PM
There's a few things I've done in my campaign that I have to wonder if I got away with cheap tricks, or if they would actually work in most campaigns.
First off is climbing onto an opponent. I haven't seen any rules on this, but the DM and I decided that it could work by making a touch attack roll to see if the monster dodges, followed by a climb check to climb the adversary. Opponent can make a grapple check and remove the climber by achieving a pin, or just attack him, the climber losing all dex bonuses to AC. I'm also wondering how to decide rules on the climber attacking the bigger opponent (Person being climbed loses dex bonuses as well?), as well as if it'd be possible to use the close vantage point to search for weak spots (For example, Smaug's missing scale), and how to determine extra damage from attacking said points (Treat it like a sneak attack?). I've always liked the idea of a "Shadow of the Colossus" type fight against large opponents, using whatever means necessary to overcome a smaller stature.
Second is familiar HD. In the campaign I'm in, we decided that "For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher. " means that while you don't actually roll new numbers for the animal's HP, that's the only factor that doesn't go up. So, to that extent, any templates get adjusted based on the master's level and it can cast spells at the same power as the master, although it's only able to memorize spells through use of the spell-linked familiar feat so it has a much smaller battery of firepower. However, I've seen in other places people saying that a familiar should use spells that aren't based on caster level due to their HD, is there any place that explicitly says this, or is this just how some people interpret the rules?
First off is climbing onto an opponent. I haven't seen any rules on this, but the DM and I decided that it could work by making a touch attack roll to see if the monster dodges, followed by a climb check to climb the adversary. Opponent can make a grapple check and remove the climber by achieving a pin, or just attack him, the climber losing all dex bonuses to AC. I'm also wondering how to decide rules on the climber attacking the bigger opponent (Person being climbed loses dex bonuses as well?), as well as if it'd be possible to use the close vantage point to search for weak spots (For example, Smaug's missing scale), and how to determine extra damage from attacking said points (Treat it like a sneak attack?). I've always liked the idea of a "Shadow of the Colossus" type fight against large opponents, using whatever means necessary to overcome a smaller stature.
Second is familiar HD. In the campaign I'm in, we decided that "For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher. " means that while you don't actually roll new numbers for the animal's HP, that's the only factor that doesn't go up. So, to that extent, any templates get adjusted based on the master's level and it can cast spells at the same power as the master, although it's only able to memorize spells through use of the spell-linked familiar feat so it has a much smaller battery of firepower. However, I've seen in other places people saying that a familiar should use spells that aren't based on caster level due to their HD, is there any place that explicitly says this, or is this just how some people interpret the rules?