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View Full Version : Redesigning SoDs in 3e



Runestar
2010-01-28, 06:46 AM
I am wondering if any of you have made any adjustments to revamp monsters with SoD abilities (or the equivalent thereof), while keeping them consistent with their established lore and would care to share them here.

The designers made the first step with a revamped beholder. Perhaps we can continue their work?
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20061028a

While I like that the designers apparently made an attempt to fully flesh out monsters as they would appear in an internally consistent setting, I dislike how this tends to result in abilities that just aren't fun in combat.

For instance, a battle with a mindflayer can go either way - either it lucks out and stuns/charms the entire party in the first few rounds, or the party makes their saves/win initiative and focus-fires it out of the fight in the first round. Neither outcome is satisfying to me - there is little finesse involved in this fight, just sheer luck or paranoia.

However, I would like to retain its iconic mindblast and charm monster SLAs. I know MM5 mentioned abilities which removed a player from the game should have very short durations to keep them "fun", but offered no other guidelines.

And please, no "Just play 4e" comments, though I don't mind concepts poached from 4e. :smallamused:

dsmiles
2010-01-28, 06:56 AM
I actually prefer abilities that remove players from the game to have longer durations, so that the party has to figure out what to do without their (insert class here). It adds more drama, and I can always use the downed player as a "side DM" to help with the combat mechanics (thus keeping them "in the game").

RebelRogue
2010-01-28, 07:00 AM
I actually prefer abilities that remove players from the game to have longer durations, so that the party has to figure out what to do without their (insert class here). It adds more drama, and I can always use the downed player as a "side DM" to help with the combat mechanics (thus keeping them "in the game").
Really? To me at least, downtime does definitely not equal drama. And there's only so much players can do to help the DM (a lot of DMs will find it annoying too).

dsmiles
2010-01-28, 07:22 AM
There's Aboleths that can remove a caracter semi-permanently. The other players have to deal with not having a (insert class here), and the removed player hast to be wondering "Will I ever get rescued?" But then again, most of my players think like me, so it's fun for all!

In a 3.5 game, an aboleth charmed our warlock (who knew both the flying and improved invisibility invocations). We all got dead (mostly by the flying invisible warlock), and the warlock came back to haunt other parties later. We loved it!

Optimystik
2010-01-28, 07:29 AM
Just play 4e :smalltongue: just kidding...

Seriously though, I like the concept behind the article. Dump a bunch of rays, make the Beholder less spammy and more of a nuisance for the players.

I'm not sure how you could adapt those principles to other creatures though. To use your example with the Illithid, how many SoDs do they have? Or Aboleths? How many saves can they target? Cutting down on their limited defenses does not seem to be the best solution - it works for Beholders because of the sheer number of rays they have, but not for other races as much.