Schattenbach
2017-05-18, 12:51 PM
The open-ended rolls variant rule from the epic level handbook replaces automatic success and failure on D20 rolls with +20 to the roll on natural 20 as well as -20 to the roll on natural 1 (one then getd to roll again, etc., and if the roll is yet again either some natural 20 or natural 1, the bonus or penalty is added yet again and things are further repeat until someting other than natural 20 or natural 1 is being rolled). To sum it up, there's no longer some 5% chance to be automatically be screwed no matter how high the AC/Saves/etc. are and as such, things get quite a bit more durable at later levels (particulary epic levels) due to equipment being quite a bit harder to destroy through various effects (Disjunction in particular ... and even unattended magic items can get respectable saves, i.e. 1/2 CL for regular magic items and 2 + CL for enhanced/wonderous stronghold components, so slapping something cheap/extremly low spell level with high/boosted Caster level on the items seems like a nice idea here; for gear, protection from evil seems like a nice idea, I guess ... ... ... though Disjunction still screws over buffs & things, like the "Hardening" spell, that make equipment more durable against being damaged by spells through bad rolls on saves or through being sundered) and saving throws/AC/defensive & utility stuff on equipment adding up to considerable high values (its much easier to stack several different types of AC and saves on items than it is to buff attack boni and spell DCs), so there seems to be some added aspect added to combat there (i.e. trying to pickpocket/disable/sunder equipment and/or to use blasting spells just for the still existing 5% chance that it affects one among the four most likely items - usually headband, shield, armor, etc. if those still haven't been destroyed - to weaken opponents/get ride of some troublesome piece of equipment) that one could otherwise ignore (or simply blindly powerattack with max BAB investment because one would only hit on some natural 20 anyway) and some other in-combat options like combat expertise/superior expertise could actually really be used as something along the line of an "parrying" system (which DnD 3.5 lacks as such ... with some minor expections, that is).
As far as I can tell so far, destroying equipment still seems quite easy (its often much easier to sunder various pieces of equipment than it is to hit the character wearing them ... the only things somewhat harder to Sunder are weapons and shields - their weapon enhancement boni makes them harder to destroy and, if I don't remember it wrong, in the case of weapons, slightly harder to hit - and armor - that is impossible to sunder and, with armor enhancement and special materials, harder to destroy by other means - as well as robes/bracers of armor/etc. that counts as armor that - depending on if the DM considers them the same as armor, thus making them impossible to sunder - possess some or all of the advantages) as items have next to none HP (and, at least usually, low Hardness ... Obdurium helps somewhat against most forms of attacks and Aurorium is great against Sundering for those things those metals could be used for), so getting damaged by some stray AoE (or general attack spell that could damage items ... but those might be harder to use as its more difficult to hit with them and later on, single target/ranged attacks are much easier to block/negate/turn back on the attacker and thus more troublesome to use)/sundered/stolen (as most pieces of equipment are vulnerable to that) are quite a bit more of a threat now that there's even more reason to use things that might target them (if they survive attacks, though, "Make Whole" - or any weaker but still decent option for repairing stuff - seems like it should fix them up instantly) or disable them for some time through targeted dispell/etc.
Some class (or race) based class features seem like they would get quite a bit more valuable and overall, without being able to freely power-attack/orb blast/save-or-die or save-or-suck spam against/etc, it seems like rocket tag loses quite a bit of steam as things are, to some degree, significantly less risky due to defensive options getting significantly better (though this also increases the gap between those that invest their WBL into equipment and such and those, like animals and some other creatures, that - for whatever reason - don't do something like that).
There's also no longer the issue of "5% of being screwed by a log list of things no matter how strong/durable/etc. someone or something is".
So ... I would like to hear some opinions about this variant rule and about what good/decent/unforseen/bad/etc. impact it has on DnD 3.5 in general as well as (as the effects are obviously greater at higher levels where the numbers are bigger and where its easier to stomach things like +20 boni to hit or -20 penalties on some saving throw) the rocket tag usually present at higher levels (low level DnD 3.5 shouldn't change that much from its usual lethality, I guess).
Thanks in advance.
As far as I can tell so far, destroying equipment still seems quite easy (its often much easier to sunder various pieces of equipment than it is to hit the character wearing them ... the only things somewhat harder to Sunder are weapons and shields - their weapon enhancement boni makes them harder to destroy and, if I don't remember it wrong, in the case of weapons, slightly harder to hit - and armor - that is impossible to sunder and, with armor enhancement and special materials, harder to destroy by other means - as well as robes/bracers of armor/etc. that counts as armor that - depending on if the DM considers them the same as armor, thus making them impossible to sunder - possess some or all of the advantages) as items have next to none HP (and, at least usually, low Hardness ... Obdurium helps somewhat against most forms of attacks and Aurorium is great against Sundering for those things those metals could be used for), so getting damaged by some stray AoE (or general attack spell that could damage items ... but those might be harder to use as its more difficult to hit with them and later on, single target/ranged attacks are much easier to block/negate/turn back on the attacker and thus more troublesome to use)/sundered/stolen (as most pieces of equipment are vulnerable to that) are quite a bit more of a threat now that there's even more reason to use things that might target them (if they survive attacks, though, "Make Whole" - or any weaker but still decent option for repairing stuff - seems like it should fix them up instantly) or disable them for some time through targeted dispell/etc.
Some class (or race) based class features seem like they would get quite a bit more valuable and overall, without being able to freely power-attack/orb blast/save-or-die or save-or-suck spam against/etc, it seems like rocket tag loses quite a bit of steam as things are, to some degree, significantly less risky due to defensive options getting significantly better (though this also increases the gap between those that invest their WBL into equipment and such and those, like animals and some other creatures, that - for whatever reason - don't do something like that).
There's also no longer the issue of "5% of being screwed by a log list of things no matter how strong/durable/etc. someone or something is".
So ... I would like to hear some opinions about this variant rule and about what good/decent/unforseen/bad/etc. impact it has on DnD 3.5 in general as well as (as the effects are obviously greater at higher levels where the numbers are bigger and where its easier to stomach things like +20 boni to hit or -20 penalties on some saving throw) the rocket tag usually present at higher levels (low level DnD 3.5 shouldn't change that much from its usual lethality, I guess).
Thanks in advance.