Dysfunctional Rules IX: 1d3 Dysfunctions from the 8th Level List

[Debatra]

Honestly, I don't even remember what dysfunction that post is referring to,

An explorer's outfit "includes any extra items you might need". Perhaps a bit of a liberal interpretation, but it does actually say that.

I just object on principle. And I stand by my objection. This thread is NOT about wacky literal misinterpretations of the text.

Oh, I absolutely get it. It's just that this time, the text actually says what Jormengand thinks it does. Broken clocks and all that.

[georgie_leech]

Oh, was that the rule in question? Yeah, I dunno, I haven't looked at the reference.

You can find it here, specifically the Explorer's Outfit. I'd hyperlink it to the right spot on the page, but I don't know how to do that.

[Elkad]

I believe the outfit currently worn does not count for weight.

Wait, where is that at? I've been putting my low-str characters in monk outfits to save a few pounds.

[Jormengand]

Broken clocks and all that.

Okay, one last time: can we not? Because I think you know how sick I am of this.

[Debatra]

Okay, one last time: can we not? Because I think you know how sick I am of this.

Hmm, I only belatedly realize how that might be reasonably read. I assure you, I did not intend to question your intelligence.

[Venger]

You can find it here, specifically the Explorer's Outfit. I'd hyperlink it to the right spot on the page, but I don't know how to do that.

when you want to link to a specific place in a long page like equipment or weapons or whatever on the srd, put a # and then the name of whatever you're looking for. if it's one word, all lowercase. if it's two, capitalize the second word and put no space. ignore apostrophes. for explorer's outfit, the link looks like this in its raw form:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/...xplorersOutfit

[Zaq]

You can sabotage (City of Stormreach 140) whips and other similar weapons with a DC 15 Disable Device check to make them deal lethal damage instead.

I know that this was posted like two pages ago, but still, that's actually fantastic.

Doesn't get around the "can't affect anything with an armor bonus of +1 or higher" clause, unfortunately, which I initially thought it might. But I still love the concept.

[georgie_leech]

when you want to link to a specific place in a long page like equipment or weapons or whatever on the srd, put a # and then the name of whatever you're looking for. if it's one word, all lowercase. if it's two, capitalize the second word and put no space. ignore apostrophes. for explorer's outfit, the link looks like this in its raw form:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/...xplorersOutfit

Much obliged. That was apparently the one thing I didn't try.

[bekeleven]

If you back up one level all of the links on the page are the anchor tags to the items.

You can also view source and look for the header IDs.

[georgie_leech]

If you back up one level all of the links on the page are the anchor tags to the items.

You can also view source and look for the header IDs.

...Okay, two things I didn't try.

[Flickerdart]

You can also view source and look for the header IDs.

All the IDs follow the same format - the title text with every word capitalized, first letter lowercase, no spaces or punctuation. So it can be faster to just type it out sometimes.

[Sagetim]

It's not so much a disfunctional rule from 3.5, as an incorrectly applied rule in a Pathfinder Adventure Path. In Evil, Evil, Revenge of the Evil (no, wait, that's just what I call it in my head. Hell's Vengeance is the name of it). So, in this adventure path there is a cleric. You can fight her. We wound up doing so because of, as far as I can tell, some accidental sequence breaking by investigating tax ledgers.

So, anyway, as the GM was trying to run the combat for us, all was going just fine until we got to the part where we were fighting her. Because the GM was unwilling to just give her a free BS exit just because that's what was written in the module when we were literally right on her tail and Faster than her on foot. So we got to fight this cleric, and he was looking for things for her to do on her turn and got to this little gem of her using channel energy to damage the players with positive energy.

Wait, What!? That's not how Channel Energy works, at least not against living people. And the GM double checked, and the cleric was good (check) and channels positive energy (check) but apparently lists the ability to channel positive energy to hurt living creatures. Somehow. With no traits or feats or anything explaining how this might be, the GM wound up going with some macing instead, but for a moment there the GM thought that clerics could channel positive energy to harm living people, and I thought we were fighting a demonic priest insurgent who had been tricking people into thinking they were a good priest when it was really, me, Dio.

Just to be clear, clerics in Pathfinder can Channel positive energy to heal living people, or harm undead if they are good. If Evil, they channel negative energy to harm the living or heal undead. If neutral, they get to pick or get stuck with one based on their god's alignment. The point being that no one gets a positive energy attack that hurts living people.

[Dagroth]

"But I was Positive I could hurt you with my Channeling!"

[PallentisLunam]

I know that this was posted like two pages ago, but still, that's actually fantastic.

Doesn't get around the "can't affect anything with an armor bonus of +1 or higher" clause, unfortunately, which I initially thought it might. But I still love the concept.

You don't even need the sabotage. You can just use a whip to deal lethal damage by taking a -4 to attack.

So in relation to the original dysfunction a whip can deal only lethal SA damage but only after taking a -4 on the attack roll to turn the whip's normally nonlethal damage into lethal damage.

[Elkad]

You don't even need the sabotage. You can just use a whip to deal lethal damage by taking a -4 to attack.

So in relation to the original dysfunction a whip can deal only lethal SA damage but only after taking a -4 on the attack roll to turn the whip's normally nonlethal damage into lethal damage.

Makes perfect sense. Hold the small end, beat them with the handle.

[Telok]

Wait, What!? That's not how Channel Energy works

Check the rules to find where they say that positive energy can only heal living creatures and negative can only heal undead. If you can't find it then it obviously isn't against the rules. I vaguely recall some positive energy spell that could only harm things, I don't have the time right now to look for it.

[PallentisLunam]

Check the rules to find where they say that positive energy can only heal living creatures and negative can only heal undead. If you can't find it then it obviously isn't against the rules. I vaguely recall some positive energy spell that could only harm things, I don't have the time right now to look for it.

The rules in question are not how positive energy works but how the PF Cleric ability Channel Energy works. Still, not a dysfunction. Just writers who don't know the rules very well.

[Inevitability]

The Swamp Linnorm can apparently 'cast arcane spells as a 17th-level druid'. Uh, what?

[bekeleven]

The Swamp Linnorm can apparently 'cast arcane spells as a 17th-level druid'. Uh, what?

I think I'm going to put the same line into my class description for the fighter.

[SirNibbles]

You cannot use Escape Artist to escape being tied up (bound) because being bound makes you helpless. Even the worst Use Rope check will succeed.

"A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent’s mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier)."

"Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless."

[georgie_leech]

You cannot use Escape Artist to escape being tied up (bound) because being bound makes you helpless. Even the worst Use Rope check will succeed.

"A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent’s mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier)."

"Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless."

Amusingly, the SRD doesn't actually say you need to be able to move, just that it takes 1 minute of work. Apparently being bound gives you restraint-specific telekinesis.

[PallentisLunam]

You cannot use Escape Artist to escape being tied up (bound) because being bound makes you helpless. Even the worst Use Rope check will succeed.

"A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent’s mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier)."

"Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless."

They get me on this one all the time in here. A character who is bound is only treated as having a Dexterity of 0 when they are targeted. Otherwise the term bound is only defined by common usage.

[Troacctid]

Yeah, that got a lot of discussion in one of the previous threads, IIRC.

[Socksy]

The Swamp Linnorm can apparently 'cast arcane spells as a 17th-level druid'. Uh, what?

Can I sig this? It amuses me too much.

[Inevitability]

Can I sig this? It amuses me too much.

Of course you can.

[ShurikVch]

Beast of Xvim template may be applied to unspecified creatures, but Animals are explicitly OK; it change alignment to Always Lawful Evil - despite the Animal's Int 2 (or 1)

Lolth-Touched Creature template changes alignment to Chaotic Evil, and can be applied to creatures with insufficient Int - actually, one of example creatures is Lolth-Touched Monstrous Spider (Int —)


Kobold with Deformity (obese) may weigh 123 lbs. at 2' 3" height, but (thanks to the Slight Build) still considered to be one size smaller when "squeezing" through a restrictive space

[flare'90]

Beast of Xvim template may be applied to unspecified creatures, but Animals are explicitly OK; it change alignment to Always Lawful Evil - despite the Animal's Int 2 (or 1)

Lolth-Touched Creature template changes alignment to Chaotic Evil, and can be applied to creatures with insufficient Int - actually, one of example creatures is Lolth-Touched Monstrous Spider (Int —)

The Skeleton and Zombie templates also change the alignment of the creature to Neutral Evil, despite setting Int- .

[Flickerdart]

Kobold with Deformity (obese) may weigh 123 lbs. at 2' 3" height, but (thanks to the Slight Build) still considered to be one size smaller when "squeezing" through a restrictive space

Dragons display many cat-like properties, and kobolds display many dragon-like properties. Clearly the ability to squeeze through ridiculously tight spaces is inherited from cats to dragons to kobolds.

[ShurikVch]

The Skeleton and Zombie templates also change the alignment of the creature to Neutral Evil, despite setting Int- .

Which I already mentioned as a dysphunction
They were Neutral in 3.0
If WotC wanted to make them affected by Smite Evil and similar things, then they should use Evil subtype, not alignment

[PallentisLunam]

Well if acts can be evil and objects can be evil and places can be evil and creatures can be inherently evil regardless of their actual moral proclivities then why can't unintelligent creatures touched/created by evil be evil themselves?