The most interesting of literal rulings?

[SangoProduction]

The title makes no sense, so I'll explain it. What if the world of D&D was actually as it's portrayed in the rules. The rules aren't an abstraction of the world. They describe the world.

With the exception of children and what have you, and the whole "the world was created last saturday," deal that D&D sessions have, what are the most interesting implications of rules-as-the-world be, particularly for everyday tasks?

I nominate the starvation and thirst rules, which basically say you don't strictly have to eat, or drink. You just kinda feel like carp if you don't.

Also, having everything shift to 5-ft increments whenever you enter combat could probably be a bit jarring for your first couple times.

[Xarteros]

A 100ft-tall colossal-sized giant that can still only take a 5ft step, and the 6-inch fairy that can somehow also take a 5ft step

[Bronk]

Also, having everything shift to 5-ft increments whenever you enter combat could probably be a bit jarring for your first couple times.

Well... For one thing, it would let you know when a fight was about to start... everyone would suddenly pop apart. Would it be admissible in court? Could witnesses testify to that in an attempted homicide case, for instance?

It would probably do wonders for people's sense of personal space as well, since I don't actually think that's just for combat.

However, attempting to place lamps in the house only on grid intersections would make for interesting feng shui.

[Jowgen]

The Overlord anime/LN is an interesting light take on this. People are aware that there are things such as class levels, special class abilities, that poisons and such can be resisted, and how magic items can boost resistances and such stuff. Yet they operate naturally in their pseudo-medieval world.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Also, having everything shift to 5-ft increments whenever you enter combat could probably be a bit jarring for your first couple times.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0175.html

First aid stations that are just a bucket of water and a burly guy with a stopwatch?

[Buufreak]

On average, people can go ~20 days without sleep with little to no consequence.

edit: Oops. Its con mod, not score. Still, the no sleep rules are pretty screwy and abusable.

[Waker]

In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster.
"Howdy stranger. I'm Bob and this is my wife, Tina, she's uhhh."
"Honey, I'm a half-elf. We've been married 10 years, how do you always forget this?"

That joke was a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact remains that in order to identify most humanoids, you need Knowledge (Local). At minimum you'd need a check of 11 to identify anything (because fractional HD should round up), but if you don't have actual ranks, you can't make the check.

Untrained

An untrained Knowledge check is simply an Intelligence check. Without actual training, you know only common knowledge (DC 10 or lower).

[Zanos]

The Overlord anime/LN is an interesting light take on this. People are aware that there are things such as class levels, special class abilities, that poisons and such can be resisted, and how magic items can boost resistances and such stuff. Yet they operate naturally in their pseudo-medieval world.
Only the creatures from the Tomb and hence the mmo have concepts of levels. The regular people from the world at large don't have any concept of class or levels or other meta concepts.

[Waker]

Only the creatures from the Tomb and hence the mmo have concepts of levels. The regular people from the world at large don't have any concept of class or levels or other meta concepts.

The people of the world do kinda have that, but mostly only in the form of magic levels. They've know 1-3 spell levels are accessible, 5th level spells are the realm of superheros and +7th is the realm of deities.

[Seto]

I nominate the starvation and thirst rules, which basically say you don't strictly have to eat, or drink. You just kinda feel like crap if you don't.
Or, well, you just become worse at doing things. There are no rules for quantifying feeling. :smallbiggrin:

[Keral]

I'm not entirely sure about this, but wood either can't be on fire or aren't destroyed by being on fire*.

Fire deals 1d6 damage, wood has hardness 5. Which means that the 1d6 gets halved before applying hardness. Which means always 0 damage.

I wouldn't be sure how to apply this, whether it burns forever without going out (since the fire doesn't destroy i.e. consume the wood) or it simply means wood is impervious to non magical fire.



*Clearly magical fire and anything dealing more than the standard 1d6 would still damage a wooden object. Except that even if I were to throw a fireball and damage some wood it wouldn't catch on fire (or it would but it would just be a pretty visual effect), since catching on fire according to the DMG deals only the 1d6 afaik.

[flappeercraft]

IIRC fire would just ignore the hardness

[Keral]

Ah well, it's true that it says
" Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness."

But then I wouldn't know where to look for it saying that wood is one of the exceptions.

I know it's sensible to rule it that way, but I don't think I ever came across something about that so...

[flappeercraft]

Fair enough. RAW, god of rules just smited real world logic trying to get into D&D again. Not complaining, it's actually just fun to see how ridiculous it gets

[Keral]

Fair enough. RAW, god of rules just smited real world logic trying to get into D&D again. Not complaining, it's actually just fun to see how ridiculous it gets

Yes well, that's what this thread is about after all :P

[GrayDeath]

It would be very likely for unemployed Lawyers to become THE major Powers if they ever finish reading, that much is certain. ^^


And given the fact that wisdom is the governing attribute for senses, young people would wear GLasses nd hearing aids (eg their equivalents), instead of old ones.

[Kaleph]

People can only be prone and never supine. I extrapolate that this condition is always verified when someone lies.

So if a dnd char is like me, and likes to roll a bit when it sleeps, it must always rotate 360 degrees at a time and find itself again prone.

Also, that it's not possible for a human to take, say, a 2 feet step, always 5 feet. I also cannot stay away 6 feet from another person.

[Nando]

I quite enyoed the take "Harry Potter and the Natural 20" took on this: in the D&D-Multiverse even the NPCs are aware of theire status and recognise PCs as such, there are scholars trying to figure weird rules interactions out and so on and so forth...

[SimonMoon6]

Watching people run races would be very strange (and mostly boring). First, one person moves a great distance before anybody else moves at all. Then, another person moves the exact same distance. And so on, until everybody has moved and everybody has caught up to each other. Then we start all over again.

[Deophaun]

As written, all druids, monks, paladins, rogues, and wizards are female if they want any class features. (English refresher: Masculine: He, Neuter: He, Feminine: She)

Does explain why "rogue" gets misspelled as "rouge" so often, though.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Watching people run races would be very strange (and mostly boring). First, one person moves a great distance before anybody else moves at all. Then, another person moves the exact same distance. And so on, until everybody has moved and everybody has caught up to each other. Then we start all over again.

I thought it was stated somewhere that all turns in a round were assumed to be taking place at once?

[flappeercraft]

I thought it was stated somewhere that all turns in a round were assumed to be taking place at once?

That is fluff text not mechanical text

[KillianHawkeye]

the whole "the world was created last saturday," deal that D&D sessions have

I'm actually going to need you to explain what the heck you mean by this. :smallconfused::smallconfused::smallconfused:

[bekeleven]

That is fluff text not mechanical text

What's the difference?

[flappeercraft]

What's the difference?

Fluff text describes something without backing of the rules or setting anything to go by other than "this happens". While mechanical text are straight rules on what did happen and how it impacts the game.

[fire_insideout]

Fluff text describes something without backing of the rules or setting anything to go by other than "this happens". While mechanical text are straight rules on what did happen and how it impacts the game.

But the mechanics don't exist in a vacuum. To understand how the world would work according to the premise of the OP you can't just take a single line of text from the rulebooks and say 'This is how it works', because you have other rules expanding upon your first one. And, there is no difference when it comes to legality between 'fluff' and 'non-fluff', it's all in the rules, it's just that people have an easier time handwaving 'fluff' while sticking hardcore to the 'rules' while forgetting that rule 0 exists for all things.

[flappeercraft]

But the mechanics don't exist in a vacuum. To understand how the world would work according to the premise of the OP you can't just take a single line of text from the rulebooks and say 'This is how it works', because you have other rules expanding upon your first one. And, there is no difference when it comes to legality between 'fluff' and 'non-fluff', it's all in the rules, it's just that people have an easier time handwaving 'fluff' while sticking hardcore to the 'rules' while forgetting that rule 0 exists for all things.

True, mechanics don't exist in a vacuum but when mechanics do appear it ceases to be a vacuum. Also yes, rule 0 does exist for all things but Rule 0 is DM fiat and for the most part on forums we just stick to the constants, in this case RAW, to try avoid confusion, or do we not?

[fire_insideout]

True, mechanics don't exist in a vacuum but when mechanics do appear it ceases to be a vacuum. Also yes, rule 0 does exist for all things but Rule 0 is DM fiat and for the most part on forums we just stick to the constants, in this case RAW, to try avoid confusion, or do we not?

I might have been unclear. What I meant was that there's no difference between 'fluff' and 'non-fluff' according to RAW (as far as I am aware). If the rules defines a turn as an abstract description of people acting at the same time, each turn taking 6 seconds, that is what happens: Everyone are moving and acting at the same time (which itself is very confusing, as you'll have individuals reacting to things which have not yet happened).

It's just that people read the rulebooks and seem to think 'yea, this section is more descriptive in its wording, so that I can ignore, but this section here is more stringent in how it is phrased so that I have to obey at all times' while failing to understand that by RAW the two sections are both equally valid. A red dragon is always red, even though it doesn't have a 'Color: Red' entry in its statblock.

[SangoProduction]

I mean, to be fair, it's right there in the RAW that turns are happening simultaneously. But, if we were going a step further and saying "no fluff at all, only mechanics," things start to get really trippy. Like, there would be no sensations as we would understand it, as how something looks/sounds/whatever is purely fluff, outside of "you detect it with spot(/etc)". I imagine it'd be quite a bit like how a sentient computer might experience the world.

Actually, there's not really rules in the game for taste or smell, except from exceptional sources like Troglodytes...Oh god. What if, because smell doesn't normally exist, people actually hunt Trogs for their scent glands...ok, rules don't say they have them IIRC, but still, that's the idea.

[Jowgen]

Only the creatures from the Tomb and hence the mmo have concepts of levels. The regular people from the world at large don't have any concept of class or levels or other meta concepts.

I think people at large certainly have a idea of some meta concepts, the obvious being spell levels and arguably martial arts. In terms of class levels, the knowledgeable might not know about levels per say (which may not even exist, as all the statblocks have questionmarks) but they do know about how classes are seperate (e.g. Succulent's multi-classing) and some classes are special (e.g. Brain knowing he's a Genius Fighter). Also, I think Evileye refers to Ainz as a high-levelled caster at some point; but that might just be a translation thing.

[Kaleph]

I think people at large certainly have a idea of some meta concepts, the obvious being spell levels and arguably martial arts. In terms of class levels, the knowledgeable might not know about levels per say (which may not even exist, as all the statblocks have questionmarks) but they do know about how classes are seperate (e.g. Succulent's multi-classing) and some classes are special (e.g. Brain knowing he's a Genius Fighter). Also, I think Evileye refers to Ainz as a high-levelled caster at some point; but that might just be a translation thing.

Actually, in order to know the exact level of a PC/NPC in-game and without meta, you just need to ask the local magic-mart for the price of a valid scroll of trap-the-soul.
Either the DM cuts it short and the merchant answers automatically, or he necessarily allows you to actually figure out "through research and study" the roght version of the scroll to buy.

Now that I think of it, that's another literal rule that would create weird effects, i.e. people getting to know metagame information.

[lord_khaine]

The Overlord anime/LN is an interesting light take on this. People are aware that there are things such as class levels, special class abilities, that poisons and such can be resisted, and how magic items can boost resistances and such stuff. Yet they operate naturally in their pseudo-medieval world.

I honestly think its an awful take on it. That series seems like one long episode of author e-peen stroking....
(and im sorry if im insulting genuine fans of the serie with this comment, but need to get it out)


First aid stations that are just a bucket of water and a burly guy with a stopwatch?

Those are going to kill far more than they help? Most will bleed out before the go on 0.


The people of the world do kinda have that, but mostly only in the form of magic levels. They've know 1-3 spell levels are accessible, 5th level spells are the realm of superheros and +7th is the realm of deities.

That is actually something there could be measurable in-world. In the same way that we have 1st and 2nd orders equations. The urban fantasy series Rivers of London had something like that, where spells are divided by their lenght and complexity.


As written, all druids, monks, paladins, rogues, and wizards are female if they want any class features. (English refresher: Masculine: He, Neuter: He, Feminine: She)

Does explain why "rogue" gets misspelled as "rouge" so often, though.

No, it is straight up mentioned somewhere in the start that He and She is used nterchangeably in the book.

[Jormengand]

I might have been unclear. What I meant was that there's no difference between 'fluff' and 'non-fluff' according to RAW (as far as I am aware).

There is, according to Spell Compendium IIRC. The italicised text in spell descriptions is not rules text.

Similarly, the monster manual states that monster descriptions are only what players might see on encountering a monster, not what they always look like.

[SimonMoon6]

I mean, to be fair, it's right there in the RAW that turns are happening simultaneously.

But the mechanics do contradict that.

For example: suppose a group of people are running away from a wizard. They all have the same speed, but because they are individual PCs, they each have their own initiative. The wizard wishes to cast a fireball spell centered on one guy, call him Character A. Because all the people are running at the same time at the same speed, one would assume that a fireball cast on Character A will also affect all the other people, since they will be near Character A.

But that's not how it would actually work. If Character A gets initiative, he runs off far away from the rest of the group. Then, if the wizard goes second, his fireball will only affect character A. It will not affect any of the others. It is only after character A gets hit by the fireball that the rest of the group (with less initiative than the wizard) runs up next to him, somehow having managed not to get hit by the fireball. (And yes people *could* hold their actions until later, but assume that they don't.)

If actions actually happened simultaneously, this could not happen. But that's the weird nature of a game with this sort of initiative.

[fire_insideout]

There is, according to Spell Compendium IIRC. The italicised text in spell descriptions is not rules text.

Similarly, the monster manual states that monster descriptions are only what players might see on encountering a monster, not what they always look like.

Interesting. So then you have some text which is real 'fluff' and other stuff which is not. How delightfully confusing :smallbiggrin:


But the mechanics do contradict that.

For example: suppose a group of people are running away from a wizard. They all have the same speed, but because they are individual PCs, they each have their own initiative. The wizard wishes to cast a fireball spell centered on one guy, call him Character A. Because all the people are running at the same time at the same speed, one would assume that a fireball cast on Character A will also affect all the other people, since they will be near Character A.

But that's not how it would actually work. If Character A gets initiative, he runs off far away from the rest of the group. Then, if the wizard goes second, his fireball will only affect character A. It will not affect any of the others. It is only after character A gets hit by the fireball that the rest of the group (with less initiative than the wizard) runs up next to him, somehow having managed not to get hit by the fireball. (And yes people *could* hold their actions until later, but assume that they don't.)

If actions actually happened simultaneously, this could not happen. But that's the weird nature of a game with this sort of initiative.

Exactly, which is why I said earlier that even though it is RAW that everyone acts at the same time (or rather, action happens continuously, not chunked up in neat blocks of 6 seconds) battles in D&D will look super weird where people are reacting to things before they have happened (taking a full round action to counter a standard or swift one) and where effects are weirdly targeting individuals etc.

[Rijan_Sai]

But that's not how it would actually work. If Character A gets initiative, he runs off far away from the rest of the group. Then, if the wizard goes second, his fireball will only affect character A. It will not affect any of the others. It is only after character A gets hit by the fireball that the rest of the group (with less initiative than the wizard) runs up next to him, somehow having managed not to get hit by the fireball. (And yes people *could* hold their actions until later, but assume that they don't.)

If actions actually happened simultaneously, this could not happen. But that's the weird nature of a game with this sort of initiative.

To be fair, at that point the wizard would most likely change his target to Character B, hitting as many targets as possible. (Since, you know, what you do during your turn does not need to be decided until your turn.)

[Jormengand]

Some interesting rules from the Completely Dysfunctional Handbook:

- Gnoll hunters regularly wield weapons that they can't use properly.
- Humans aren't real people.
- Fine-sized half dragons still have very scary breath weapons.
- Bards are largely terrible performers because their perform skill has nothing to do with how good bardic music is.
- It is entirely honourable to poison someone or deliver a coup de grace against them, so long as you're a knight, not a paladin.
- Monks can speak every language but can't understand replies.
- A mundane longsword that was just mass-produced has a far more complicated true name than a slightly magical longsword which was used by a hero.
- Giants and elephants have no particular problem moving silently. Speaking of which, animals - and mindless creatures - generally have little problem taking skill checks which make no sense. Just because you've never SEEN a zombie perform or a dog craft, doesn't mean they can't, dammit!
- On the above note, a dog can make (d20-4)/2 gold pieces per week by making a craft check. A zombie can make d20/2 because nonabilities are dumb.
- Jumping is odd; a commoner with 10 Str can occasionally jump 10 feet from standing.
- You also jump further if you run in the opposite direction first.
- Knowing a red dragon breathes fire is more difficult the older it is.
- Knowing that half-dragon elves are immune to sleep may be a lot easier or a lot harder than knowing that normal ones are.
- Angels, demons and where you go when you die have nothing to do with religion.
- Full plate doesn't inhibit dancing.
- Wise people can dig faster, strong people can't.
- It's possible to control other people's mounts in combat without riding them, which can be fun in cavalry battles.
- You can't hide anything that isn't a weapon.
- You can swim in ice, but never in acid or lava. You can swim while wielding two longswords at no penalty.
- Oils don't really exist.
- Various items cost strange amounts, and the costs of items has nothing to do with supply/demand.

[Bohandas]

I'm actually going to need you to explain what the heck you mean by this. :smallconfused::smallconfused::smallconfused:

I think it means there are a lot of elements of many settings which, even taken individually, would radically transform the sort of societies presented in D&D, but which in fact clearly haven't affected them at all, as if the various things in the world - the people, the magic, the creatures, the items - had not been around long enough to properly interact with each other

[SimonMoon6]

To be fair, at that point the wizard would most likely change his target to Character B, hitting as many targets as possible. (Since, you know, what you do during your turn does not need to be decided until your turn.)

But if he REALLY hates Character A and doesn't care about the rest...

[SimonMoon6]

It is impossible to create a valuable painting without using valuable ingredients to make it. A simple canvas and ordinary paints can never be used to create a masterpiece. You need, say, crushed up rubies and diamonds mixed into the paint. (You must spend one third of the item's price in raw ingredients.)

[Coretron03]

People can conjure quarterstaves and clubs instantly, whenever they feel like it.

A average Int person can earn 5 gold a week from craft checks and taking ten, as its useable untrained. Even a 3 int person cn earn 3 gold a week. This should mean poverty doesn't exist as anyone in a town can earn plenty of money.

[Zanos]

It is impossible to create a valuable painting without using valuable ingredients to make it. A simple canvas and ordinary paints can never be used to create a masterpiece. You need, say, crushed up rubies and diamonds mixed into the paint. (You must spend one third of the item's price in raw ingredients.)
The rules are abstracted for a reason, you can flavor this however you want. The best color pigments might only come from rare ingredients, or the expense could just reflect many failed attempts before inspiration struck for a masterpiece.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

The rules are abstracted for a reason, you can flavor this however you want. The best color pigments might only come from rare ingredients, or the expense could just reflect many failed attempts before inspiration struck for a masterpiece.

This is the "literal rulings" thread

[ShurikVch]

I nominate the starvation and thirst rules, which basically say you don't strictly have to eat, or drink. You just kinda feel like carp if you don't.You also get nonlethal damage, which explicitly can't be healed by any way until you eat/drink. How long until you fall unconscious and stay this way up to the death from old age (because you can't eat or drink while unconscious)?


First aid stations that are just a bucket of water and a burly guy with a stopwatch?Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but (AFAIK) there is no way to stop drowning; stopwatch doesn't matter - victim will die even when taken out of the water


In general, this thread reminded me of this (http://s295.photobucket.com/user/dreamthiev/media/Order%20of%20the%20Stick/OotS-DragonMagazine18.png.html) OotS issue.

[Zephonim]

The people of the world do kinda have that, but mostly only in the form of magic levels. They've know 1-3 spell levels are accessible, 5th level spells are the realm of superheros and +7th is the realm of deities.

In the later novels the adventurers are known to have hero ratings. One of them has a hero rating of 150 and she is about 30th level accord to yggdrassill standards. Hero ratings tend to be ranking /50 = level

[martixy]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0175.html

First aid stations that are just a bucket of water and a burly guy with a stopwatch?

The more pertinent question is: What meta gags HAVEN'T yet been done by OotS?

[dhasenan]

As written, all druids, monks, paladins, rogues, and wizards are female if they want any class features. (English refresher: Masculine: He, Neuter: He, Feminine: She)

English uses "they" as the animate third person singular pronoun. The Oxford English Dictionary attests this usage as far back as 1526, which is old enough to be on the border between middle and modern English. It's remained popular ever since, and despite what prescriptivist grammarians might tell you, common usage is what determines a language.

Gender isn't listed as a prerequisite for anything. Class feature descriptions tend to begin with the class name; for instance:



Wild Talent: A divine mind gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat. This class feature provides the character with the psionic power he needs to call down a mantle's special power, even if he otherwise has no power points.


The most you could argue is that your choice of class might add a set of pronouns that apply to you. However, since that isn't explicitly called out as a benefit of the class, I'd argue that the effect is limited to the rules and not the rest of your life.

[SangoProduction]

English uses "they" as the animate third person singular pronoun. The Oxford English Dictionary attests this usage as far back as 1526, which is old enough to be on the border between middle and modern English. It's remained popular ever since, and despite what prescriptivist grammarians might tell you, common usage is what determines a language.

Gender isn't listed as a prerequisite for anything. Class feature descriptions tend to begin with the class name; for instance:



The most you could argue is that your choice of class might add a set of pronouns that apply to you. However, since that isn't explicitly called out as a benefit of the class, I'd argue that the effect is limited to the rules and not the rest of your life.

I'm almost certain that they write out that no class is needed to be of a gender, and that they are just using pronouns for convenience. Almost 100% positive I read that in the Player's Handbook.

[tiercel]

English uses "they" as the animate third person singular pronoun. The Oxford English Dictionary attests this usage as far back as 1526, which is old enough to be on the border between middle and modern English. It's remained popular ever since, and despite what prescriptivist grammarians might tell you, common usage is what determines a language.

Wellllll..... (some grammar nitpicking)

Only very recently (i.e. This year!) have major style guides started coming down on the side of singular-they for formal or professional written English. The problem is that English doesn't have a nice clear solution.

Using the traditional "he" as neuter can imply sexism or simply that gender is known when it is not.

Using "he or she" was until this year the most recommended form for formal usage (and I still haven't checked all style guides; "they" is listed as an option, but not necessarily the only or primary one in some guides), but it's clunky as the Abyss and may come off as exclusionary of individuals who don't identify with traditional binary gender.

Using "they" will get you into trouble in prescriptivist settings (standardized multiple choice exams, at least notably the SAT and ACT, as well as at least some classrooms, to say nothing of editors not hewing to or not in disciplines covered by recent style guide updates). Also, it seems unnecessarily torturous to use plural verbs with singular they, much less the reflexive/intensive "themself" or singular "themselves."

Deliberately artificial constructions (e.g. Spivak pronouns and the like) are not widely recognized and come off as artificial and jarring in most contexts.

Thankfully, it seems clear from a RAW literalist point of view that gendered pronoun usage is deliberately used interchangeably.



Gender isn't listed as a prerequisite for anything.

Actually, the Book of Exalted Cheese Deeds prestige classes Beloved of Valarian and Swanmay both have Gender: Female as requirements for entry.

[ShurikVch]

Gender isn't listed as a prerequisite for anything.Feats: Kihu-Sherem Guardian
Prestige Classes: Darkhagard, Eunuch Warlock, Thrall of KostchtchieFeats: Ethran, Sherem-Lar Sorcery, Sherezem-Lar Sorcery; Tribal Trait (Tanaroans):
You gain a +1 bonus on Survival checks and, if female, a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks made against male Olman.
In addition, when wielding a kaua'koi you can have it deal two kinds of damage.
Prestige Classes: Arachne, Beloved of Valarian, Bloodsister, Durthan, Hathran, Maiden of Pain, Swanmay, Sword Dancer, Vetha, Whitehorn
Templates: Keening Spirit (City of the Spider Queen)
Spells:
Searing Seed (Dragon #300): male victims suffer double of Con damage (4d6), and got -6 to save vs. damage (1d6/CL, up to 25d6, Fort. for half)
Sherem Transformation (Ghostwalk) works differently for males and females

Magic Items:
Choker of the Sirens (Dragon #347): Female wearers gain the captivating song of a siren and can breathe water
Cloak of the Consort (Drow of the Underdark): +6 deflection to AC, +4 on all saving throws, negates any weakness to light, wearer can gain concealment for 10 rounds, at will; but suffer -4 penalty on saves against spells and SLAs of female drow
Rod of the Matriarch (Drow of the Underdark): If you are not a female drow, the rod bestows one negative level for as long as you carry it
Royal Firemage Gown (Dragon #350): Acts as robe of the archmagi, grants fire resistance 30, +4 Diplomacy and Intimidate (competence), fire shield 1/day for females only

[tiercel]

Wow, ShurikVch, a lot more than I'd even ever heard of. The strange thing to me is that, while I can just about see gender prereqs for drow-related rules (given that the drow are the Gender Role Commentary race), I'm not sure why otherwise gender would to need to matter game-mechanically (vs the fluff, e.g. "while females/males tend to be predominant in this class..." or "while the first of these items was an elegant gown, robes with the same powers...").

Yet, clearly, here we are.

[Zanos]

IIRC, class descriptions in the PHB use the pronoun of the iconic. So wizard uses female pronouns because Mialee is the iconic, sorcerer uses male pronouns because it's Hennet, etc.

[bekeleven]

IIRC, class descriptions in the PHB use the pronoun of the iconic. So wizard uses female pronouns because Mialee is the iconic, sorcerer uses male pronouns because it's Hennet, etc.

This is correct. Most homebrew follows this convention.

[leoryff]

All right, I'll be the one to bring it up.


"Talking is a free action."

Imagine how different the world would be if every form of action could be paused to talk The affects on open warfare combat. Sports. Heck, even everyday thinggs like driving. ANd would making a phone call constitute as a free action too?

[Jormengand]

Most homebrew follows this convention.

This gets really interesting for the potion maker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20106044&postcount=4), whose iconic is genderfluid, leading to wonderful paragraphs like:


In this time, she may brew one potion for each spell given on Table: The Potion Maker (plus additional potions for having a high intelligence modifier), completely without regard for the usual gold, experience or time cost of doing so, although potions made in this way become useless after 24 hours. Similarly, if he chooses not to brew all of their potions at this time, it can brew a single potion later in the day by expending a spell slot of the requisite level. If they have more than one spellcasting class, he can only brew potions in this way using her potion maker spell slots. In order to make a potion using spell slots from another class, it must use the normal rules for creating potions and can only create potions out of spells which would normally be eligible for creating potions.


Feats: Kihu-Sherem Guardian
Prestige Classes: Darkhagard, Eunuch Warlock, Thrall of KostchtchieFeats: Ethran, Sherem-Lar Sorcery, Sherezem-Lar Sorcery; Tribal Trait (Tanaroans):
Prestige Classes: Arachne, Beloved of Valarian, Bloodsister, Durthan, Hathran, Maiden of Pain, Swanmay, Sword Dancer, Vetha, Whitehorn
Templates: Keening Spirit (City of the Spider Queen)
Spells:
Searing Seed (Dragon #300): male victims suffer double of Con damage (4d6), and got -6 to save vs. damage (1d6/CL, up to 25d6, Fort. for half)
Sherem Transformation (Ghostwalk) works differently for males and females

Magic Items:
Choker of the Sirens (Dragon #347): Female wearers gain the captivating song of a siren and can breathe water
Cloak of the Consort (Drow of the Underdark): +6 deflection to AC, +4 on all saving throws, negates any weakness to light, wearer can gain concealment for 10 rounds, at will; but suffer -4 penalty on saves against spells and SLAs of female drow
Rod of the Matriarch (Drow of the Underdark): If you are not a female drow, the rod bestows one negative level for as long as you carry it
Royal Firemage Gown (Dragon #350): Acts as robe of the archmagi, grants fire resistance 30, +4 Diplomacy and Intimidate (competence), fire shield 1/day for females only

While I'm on the topic of trans* people, they would make a lot of these abilities really weird if taken literally.

[Andezzar]

All right, I'll be the one to bring it up.


"Talking is a free action."

Imagine how different the world would be if every form of action could be paused to talk The affects on open warfare combat. Sports. Heck, even everyday thinggs like driving. ANd would making a phone call constitute as a free action too?Free actions do not stop other actions. They can be performed during the execution of other actions. There even is a theoretical limit on how many free actions can be performed within one round.
You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free. It is interesting though that you can even talk while using perform (wind instruments).

[SangoProduction]

Interestingly, talking being a free action actually explains dialogue during fights that we see in anime (and superhero media), where everyone just sits around, waiting for someone to finish talking before acting.

[bekeleven]

This gets really interesting for the potion maker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20106044&postcount=4), whose iconic is genderfluid
The Coalescant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20024288&postcount=15) iconic was genderless.