D&D 3.5e Question about homebrewing Rules

KPhan2121

In a game with my friends, I've decided to remove all armor and weapon magic enhancements past +1. Anytime they want to add magic to their weapon we would use spell effects instead. either 1-3/day time use with the effect as written or a very toned down version of the spell that is always there. I currently see the immediate effect of my players looking for other ways to increase their AC(Combat Expertise, Amulet of Natural Armor) or to disable enemies as fast as possible. Looking at some of the creatures at higher levels, I can foresee problems where some of these monsters since they have ungodly high attack bonuses. Is there a way to make lower level creatures still a threat to the players while giving them a chance to fight the higher tiered monsters?

Pils

Hi KPhan,

3.5 rules are specifically based on this increasing mathematics : a high level hero should have bonus to hit, damage, characteristics, AC, saving throws, spell DC... etc. won by many many (and many) means.

If you cap the magic items enhancement, high level monsters would hit more often (and would be hurt less often), and spells would gain in power (as they're the only one not caped).

Honestly, in my opinion, it's a considerable change in the 3.5 rule's logic, but if you find a viable change do let us know! Good luck!

-Pils
"Dark Sun -- La Décade des Héros":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/dark-sun-a-trova: Face the Fire of the Dark Sun... a World ravaged by Sorcery!
"Al-Qadim -- Golden Voyages":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/aq-golden-voyages: Who Among you Dares to Challenge the High Seas?

Leonidas300

Pils is absolutely in his breakdown on the mathematics of 3.5, there are however a number of go to tricks that you can use to make lower level creatures a challenge for higher level PC's without infringing on their ability to be effective against or extra vulnerable to higher level foes.

First - (most important) - Throw out all that hogwash of ECL especially the part where each extra creature or two adds to it. You can't go crazy and add a dozen or more extra creatures but 2 to 4 extra creatures of the same type won't really effect ECL to the point where it needs to be adjusted.

Second - rechoose the monsters feats to be a little more aggressive such as weapon focus, improved initiative, power attack, cleave and so on. A monsters feats usually consists of a few duds so this should not present a problem.

Third - use enemy spell casters, haste, magic missile, fireball, protection from good and so on - most PC's handle hand to hand land really well but are a little out of their element when the monsters start busting off spells.

Fourth - have the monsters use magical items - This is a nice double whammy as it also reduces the PC's take for the encounter, potions of displacement, (elixar of stoneskin legal in pathfinder, I don't remember about 3.5 although it likely is), potion of firey breath, potions of healing, potion of enlarge person; you could also jack one monster out with an evil version of a ring of vengence thats a nice 20d6 pause to a PC's hacking.

Fifth - make advantageous use of buffing (wizards and clerics) especially enemy bards, round one down goes the potion of invis, then have him start singing (I don't remember what it was called but there was a jacked out ebberon feat that would add bonuses to a bards inspire courage, also the feat lingering song is good because the PC's will adapt and learn to kill the bard quick so as long as he gets one round of singing off, the lingering song will whore out the bard bonus for a few more rounds in case the bard gets croaked.

Sixth - add a class level or (more than 1 level depending on the situation) to the monster, Barbarian, Rogue, Fighter are all excellent choices

Seventh - tailor the battlefield, put movement obstacles for the PC's to overcome so they just can't march in and start whooping butt

Eighth - Play the monsters intelligently, have them take advantage of cover, set up flanks for their buddies, use aid another (in combat), avoid AoO's

Ninth - make efficacious use of mundane equipment, such as tanglefoot bags, nets, reach weapons, missile weapons, flamming oil, alchemist fire and so on

Tenth - (and by far the meanest) Clerics are a bastion of good, a servant of their god and should be the primary target from the onset of every engagement. If the cleric is busy trying to keep himself alive he rarely has the chance to help others which forces some hard decisions.

Hope this helps

Leonidas300
"A Manifestation of Chaos":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/metzger
COTM - Sept. 2012

KPhan2121

Well the logic of removing this is to make these magic enhancements limited. They still have the means to achieve the same level of power if I hadnt removed magic enhancements(since magic item that straight up increase AC or improve stats are still viable), they just have to start using potions and spells more often. For example, the "tank of the group normally has 26 AC, but since i removed magic enhancements, his AC is now 22. He can get the same AC by using Combat Expertise(A feat that he never needed to touch until recently) he can also buy an item that has the shield or deflect spell on it. Since I applied this "Patch", I allowed the players a refund on most of their money and being able to rechoose their feats. Our example, the tank of the group now replaced all of his toughness and other feats he doesn't use in favor of shield slam, shield charge and the like. So far I find that they play more tactically and use options they normally would'nt, but my fears are that the challenge curve would get too high in later levels when they fight creatures that have +17 to natural armor and +32 to hit. Are their items that can be used to specifically weaken some of these creatures, or should I homebrew items into the game?

Dungeon_Master_Loki

Looking forward to hearing more about this one you have playtested it for a few games.