Party vs Party

[MichielHagen]

Hello,

because our DM will be absent on our regular evening in a few weeks, i want to suggest a party vs party evening. I have given it some considerations and have come to a few conclusions. I would like to know if someone else has any suggestions or input.

1. Since this will be a one time thing, anything with story isn't usefull
2. Since we are with 5 players, i want to have a 6 vs 6 battle, with one team consisting of 3 players playing 2 characters, the other 2 players playing 3 characters.
3. I do not want to complicate things too much for the others, that is the reason for most of the below points.
4. I want to ban all spells, invocations, powers, spell-like abilties.....
   Why, because i believe it complicates things exponentionally, and it would be 6 spellcasters vs 6 spellcasters using broken spells.
5. Also potions and scrolls are banned.
6. I want to limit the items one can buy to ability enhancers, skill enhancers, magical armors, weapons (only +1, +2, ....). I will make a list of this for the players and the items will be custom made.
   This is too prevent broken items.
7. The level will be 9, i also considered 6, but i think lvl 9 would give some more versatility, anything higher than 9 would make it too much work.
8. The amount of gold they receive will be 18.000 gp (half of a normal PC).
9. The characters will be made using 29 pt buy
10. Sneaking is prohibited. I don't know how this will be done without a DM present.
11. The battlefield will be premade, with a decent distance between the two parties. Battlefield will contain cover and stuff, as well as open field.
12. All 3.5 books will be used
13. Only PHB races will be used, a battlefield full of weird creatures is not appealing to me.
14. I am considering only PHB classes and feats, but i think that might limit it too much...

If you notice some other complications that might arise, please do mention.

[Eldariel]

PHB only would be way too limiting. Basically the only rational build would be Barbarian 1/Fighter 8 Two-Handed Power Attacker (or with some Ranger-levels if you're good at guessing what races others will play). Make it like a Dungeon Crawl; have a quick list of allowed spells available, or even just ready, simple spell list. Other than that, pick a few books, for example PHB, PHBII & Completes and roll with that.

That should make for enough versatility (after all, it's a matter of building your character as much as it's a matter of playing them) without being an overwhelming task to handle. Just draw up quick spell lists for each class cutting the trash and including some battlefield control, some spot removal and some mass damage (leave the very best spells out though to balance the field a bit), force Druids to use the Shapeshift-variant, ban DMM and go to town.

EDIT: Oh, and uhh, obviously don't include Polymorph in the spell list. And ban Leadership, and limit Summoning. Those things would muddle things up a bit too much.

[Draz74]

Yeah, what if you made a short list of spells that are allowed, such as:

Wizard
Level 0
Resistance
Acid Splash
Level 1
Shield
Mage Armor
True Strike
Charm Person
Magic Missile
Shocking Grasp
Level 2
Resist Energy
See Invisibility
Scorching Ray
Blur
Invisibility
Bull's Strength
Cat's Grace
Level 3
Dispel Magic
Protection from Energy
Heroism
Hold Person
Fireball
Lightning Bolt
Displacement
Vampiric Touch
Fly
Keen Edge
Level 4
Dimension Door
Phantasmal Killer
Fear
Level 5
Cone of Cold
Interposing Hand
Wall of Force
Baleful Polymorph
Overland Flight

... basically, only keep the spells that are easy to keep track of once cast, and that aren't considered the most powerful spells of their level?