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OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 06:07 PM
So, I'm sure you've all noticed that gluts of threads pop up here that ultimately have little purpose, most notably threads that are either class battles or the result of someone not taking the 15 seconds necessary to google their answer up.

Well, there are threads that ARE useful on the internet. So, here, I'm going to compile some resources that I believe are useful to the community. Also, I am going to describe how one can answer most of their own commonly repeated questions with a quick google search!

First, the googling. Google is a wonderful thing, and can answer most of your questions like "what sourcebook is this in?" or "are there any guides for druids or suggestions from optimizers as to what feats I should take?" or "Where can I find this thread?"

The secret lies within the Advanced Search option. Just go to www.google.com, click "advanced search" and scroll down to where it says "domain." There, all you need to do is type in the website that you want to search! For example, if you wanted to search all of the WotC boards, you would put in "forums.gleemax.com" (or "boards1.wizards.com" for the old site). This will solve all your searching problems for any site that does not have its own search function.

Second, a useful resource for newer posters or those unfamiliar with netiquette: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting

Third, a collection of resources, ranging from classes to sticky directories to all manner good threads giving solutions to common topics of discussion. Hope you guys will post your own! I will update the first thread to keep things organized and accessible.

Classes

Society Mind (This sweet new psionic class fills a supporting role. Great work from Dreamscarred Press):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=506284

Radical Taoist's Sublime Way Ranger (From one of the Dreamscarred Press writers comes a cool variant of the Ranger using Tome of Battle mechanics):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=738077

Tempest's Sublime Way Marshal (From one of the Dreamscarred Press writers comes a cool fix of the Marshal using Tome of Battle mechanics):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=752414

Sublime Way Dwarven Defender (Another cool Tome of Battle-ized class conversion from the Dreamscarred Press guys): http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=867144

Blaine's Soulknife (A lauded soulknife fix from BlaineTog that gives the Soulknife a role of his own):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=310984

Seerow's Fighter (The result of three extremely long and actually constructive fighter threads, this fighter fix is worth a look):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=728493

The Rebalanced Paladin (My own highly lauded paladin fix (made in cooperation with Seerow). But don't let me tout my own work... judge for yourself):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=761045


Other Homebrew Mechanics
Falling Star Style (A Tome of Battle style for ranged combatants from one of the Dreamscarred Press writers):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=771597

Articles
The Great Tome of Battle Re-Flavoring Project (For all those people who think Tome of Battle being Wuxia is an issue, or just want help fitting ToB abilities to their particular desired flavor):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=849692

Truenaming Psionics (Has nothing to do with Truenaming (the thread actually predates the creation of the Truenaming magic system), but instead helps solve the issue some people have feeling Psionics has a flavor somehow inappropriate for their games, much like the above ToB article):
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=470229

Insane Characters: A Player's Guide (A very nice little guide to playing characters with all kinds of psychological afflictions by someone who's actually studied the subject):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=880483

The Tome of Necromancy (Frank/K article. All are great reads. Check it out):
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=684

The Tome of Fiends (Frank/K article):
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=688

The Dungeonomicon (Frank/K article):
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=698

Races of War (Frank/K article)
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=723

Optimization Guides:
Campaign Smashers (Just to point out what NOT to do for fear of DM wrath):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=587555

The Logic Ninja's Guide to Wizards: Being Batman:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18500

The 3.5 Weapon Special Abilities Thread:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=642656

References and Tools
Ready to Summon Monsters (A fantastic thread that saves a ton of effort for summoners with all possible summons already statted up):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=221737

OpenRPG Miniature Generator (Play online with OpenRPG? This'll give you generic minis when you just can't find a picture to fit or just want to expedite the process):
http://www.adaran.net/openrpgMini/

Mike Mearls talks about making Hexblades better:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=852040

Problematic Spells Thread (Thread analyzing spells that suck from a design standpoint and giving suggestions how to fix them):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=86768

Problematic Powers Thread (Thread analyzing powers that suck from a design standpoint and giving suggestions how to fix them):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=657631

Psionics FAQ (EXCELLENT resource if you're using psionics, especially if you are new to it):
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=638776

Tome of Battle Fighting Styles (A thread on creating characters with certain martial fighting styles ranging from French Style Fencing (Rhodes School) to Aikido)
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=846396

Easy To Read Polymorph Errata (Helps to sort through the jumble):
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=589497

Indexes
CharOp board Important Threads Index:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=511451

Realmshelp (All the feats, spells and whatever mechanics you want from just about every source! Sweet):
http://realmshelps.dandello.net/datafind/feats.shtml

DnD Archive Handy DM Links thread (Lots of handy links. For DMs!): http://www.dndarchive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=124

Eberron
Ask Keith Baker archive (Keith answers people's questions about Eberron!):
http://boards1.wizards.com/archive/index.php/t-548195.html

Dragonshards archive (Free online mini-supplements for Eberron written by Keith Baker! Awesome!):
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/ds

Ask the Dreaming Dark (More of Keith's answers to stuff):
http://bossythecow.com/askthedreamingdark.htm

Jhonen Olain's Eberron Journal (An Eberron fan site):
http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/index2.html#

Erandis d'Vol Encyclopedia:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=397639

Still adding more. Please, feel free to add your own! :smallsmile:

Egill
2007-11-15, 06:40 PM
Thanks, bro.

I have a new bookmark, now.

Temp
2007-11-15, 06:53 PM
Any particular reason for TLN's guide and not some of the ones from the gleemax boards? You've yourself have mentioned the single-source problem these boards often show.

A couple often-referenced class changes:

Fax_Celestis' "How-it-should-be" Paladin (http://corporation.walagata.com/fax/wiki/index.php/Paladin)
Bears with Lasers' Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30692)


Links that I've gotten the most mileage from:

X stat to Y bonus (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=320889)--Useful in designing efficient multiclass/gestalt characters.
Lists of Stuff (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=662842)--A list of sources for common class abilities.
Alternate Class Features (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=904261)--A list of published WotC class variants.

Handy Links for CharOp Work (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=482636)--This is the list. It has links to almost everything you could want.

And maybe it would help some of the Google-illiterate if you mentioned the "XYZ site:___" method

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 06:54 PM
Any particular reason for TLN's guide and not some of the ones from the gleemax boards? Yes. The reason is that I'm not done adding stuff. They will be included, don't worry.


And maybe it would help some of the Google-illiterate if you mentioned the "XYZ site:___" method Possibly. Will add when I update.


Also, this Paladin (http://corporation.walagata.com/fax/wiki/index.php/Paladin) and this Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30692) come up pretty often around here; they're likely worth linking as well. I'll look them over. Keep in mind that there are some fixes that get a lot of attention from the casual crowd, who can be drawn in by a good presentation and a couple cool ideas behind it, but then get shot down pretty hard when analyzed by the veterans with an eye for design and balance. Some of the more well known examples are Szatany's Ultimate classes and the Gemini Dancer. The designer v. developer split comes up here (yes, they're not the same thing. I'll be glad to explain if someone doesn't know what I'm talking about, though). With Szatany's classes, Mechanics for Mechanics' Sake happened a lot, and could actually restrict Versatility in Build while the presentation gave the illusion of providing more versatility in build. With the Gemini Dancer, well, you could actually make it with other classes, and didn't really need a new class at all. It was more like a guy just codifying his single character into a whole class with the abilities written in his chosen flavor. And more of Mechanics for Mechanics Sake.

...Anyways, what I'm getting at in an overly long-winded fashion is that I'm not just going to put up a class because they're popular. I'm going to look it over and judge its merits. ^^;;

Temp
2007-11-15, 07:02 PM
...Anyways, what I'm getting at is that I'm not just going to put something up a class because they're popular. I'm going to look it over and judge its merits. ^^;;
They're both brought up incredibly frequently on these forums. Their links would get more use than most.

Eh; I'll just label them in my post and call it good.

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 07:09 PM
Maybe--I actually haven't read either--but they're both brought up incredibly frequently on these forums. Their links would get more use than most.

Definitely a valid point.

Still going to read them first ^^;;

Nebo_
2007-11-15, 08:14 PM
I find this thread very useful:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=642656

Tor the Fallen
2007-11-15, 08:22 PM
{Scrubbed}

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 09:24 PM
{Scrubbed}

(Edit: Post is scrubbed, no reason for a response)

SandDemon
2007-11-15, 09:27 PM
Shameless plug for my thread on all stuff poison : http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3505806

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 09:33 PM
Shameless plug for my thread on all stuff poison : http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3505806

Looks handy. However, I'd suggest putting up references for where everything came from. I just see things like "Scholar of Nature" and no reference. I'd like to see everything referenced with the sources they come from.

And you might want to take a look at this for your "homebrew" section: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=751305

BardicDuelist
2007-11-16, 12:58 PM
While I don't know where they are: Fax's guide to spellthieves, the Factotum Handbook, etc are all really useful and frequently linked to.

ocato
2007-11-16, 01:07 PM
Just run a search for Fax and you'll double your links. The man does good work.

BardicDuelist
2007-11-16, 01:12 PM
Fax's Spellthieves (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44299)

Thinker
2007-11-16, 01:19 PM
Is there going to be an "Indexes" section of your thread for things like crystal-keep, the x-stat to y-bonus, the PC races threads, etc? At home I can fill in the links...don't have bookmarks at work to places I can't visit.

SandDemon
2007-11-17, 01:45 AM
All feats can be found in the realmshelp site, was there something else missing in my poison post?

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-17, 02:29 AM
Is there going to be an "Indexes" section of your thread for things like crystal-keep, the x-stat to y-bonus, the PC races threads, etc? At home I can fill in the links...don't have bookmarks at work to places I can't visit.
Yes, actually. If you can fill in the links, that's even better, seeing as I'm a lazy bastard :smallwink:

Edit: crystal-keep added, realmshelp added, and 3.5 weapon special abilities added.

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-29, 06:39 AM
http://www.dndarchive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=124 This added.