***Begin Part 6*** For DM's Eyes 42: What books do I need in order to be a DM? A: Unlike players, where it is possible to play with just pencil and paper, a DM generally (with some exceptions) needs a bit more in the way of rulebooks. The minimum needed by most people to DM a satisfying *D&D game is: the DMG, the PH, and either the Monstrous Manual or the Monstrous Compendium 1-2. These three references are the core of the game; everything else just adds window dressing. 43: Stoneskin seems too unbalancing. What can I do? A: There are several possible solutions. Here are a few possibilities: 1) Have any attack peel off one charge, including thrown pebbles. 2) Give the spell a limited duration, such as one day, or one week. 3) Have certain special attacks peel off more than one charge; e.g. *icestorm*, *micrometeorite storm*, throwing a handful of pebbles, etc. 44: What can I do about Bladesinging elves? A: Simple. Bladesinger is a kit. Kits are optional. Put your foot down and decide that bladesingers are an optional rule you do not wish to follow. In fact, the entire Complete Book of Elves is optional, so you may allow or disallow any portion of it. Of course, you could just grin and bear it, or you could pull a DM fiat and have some jealous dwarven god instantly strike dead every bladesinging elf that appears and hope that the players catch your subtle hints. 45: How do you deal with criticals? A: There are almost as many different ways of determining and resolving criticals as there are players. Here is a selection of various methods, in no particular order, gleaned from various postings on rec.games.frp. dnd. A) Determination of criticals 1) Backing a Critical: If a natural '20' is rolled, roll again. If the second number would have hit, then the '20' is considered a critical hit. If the second roll was too low, then the first was only a normal hit. Also, if a natural '1' is rolled, roll again. If the second roll is high enough to hit the creature, then the roll is considered a normal miss. If the second was too low to hit the creature, then the '1' is considered a critical miss. VARIANTS: Optionally, if you rule that critical hits result in double damage, if the second roll is also a '20' then roll a third time. If the third roll was sufficient to hit the creature, then the original '20' is a critical and the damamge is tripled. Continue the pattern as long as you wish. Also optionally, for certain powerful creatures, lower the reroll number so that, for example, rolling a natural '19' or better requires a second roll. If the second roll is good enough to hit, treat as above. If you use option 1A and the second roll is, for example, a '19' or better, then the critical does triple damage, and so on. 2) Always Hits: If a natural '20' is rolled, then that attack automatically succeeds, and damage is rolled normally. If a natural '1' is rolled, that attack automatically misses. No special critical damage is awarded in either case. VARIANT: A natural '20' always hits, with normal damage, and a natural '1' always misses. However, in either case, roll again. If the second roll is identical to the first, then it is a critical. If not, then ignore the second roll. 3) Extra Attack: If a natural '20' is rolled, the character gets an immediate extra attack with that weapon, no matter what kind of weapon, save those such as heavy crossbows that take more than one round to use. 4) Straight 20: If a natural '20' is rolled, and a '20' was not the minimum number needed to hit, then it is a critical. If a natural '1' is rolled, it is a critical. 5) Over the Top: If a 20 is rolled, roll again and add the two results together. If the combined total is greater than the minimum needed to hit by 10 or more, then it's a critical. If a 1 is rolled, roll again and subtract. If the combined total is 10 or more less than what is needed to hit, then it's a critical. VARIANTS: If a natural '20' is rolled, roll again and add the result to '19;' the same end result as above is needed to hit. I.e., if a character needs a '22' to hit, the character must roll a natural '20,' followed by a minimum roll of '3.' A total of 10 higher than the minimum needed to hit still results in a critical hit. If a natural '20' is rolled, roll again and add the new result to '19.' If the second roll is also a '20,' roll again. If the third roll is a natural '20,' then it is considered a critical hit. B) Resolution of criticals In all cases that result in a critical hit or miss, they can be resolved by any of the following: 1) Chartbuster: Use your favorite chart 2) Double Damage I: Double the damage on critical hits and damage yourself on critical misses 3) Double Damage II: When a natural '20' is rolled, roll damage twice; i.e., if damage die is 1d8, roll 2d8. 4) Double Damage III: A roll of natural '20' always hits, and damage is rolled normally. However, if a character rolls the maximum damage (i.e. '6' on a d6), no matter if it was a to-hit roll of natural '20' or not, roll damage again, but subtract 2 from the second roll; negative numbers are equal to '0.' If the maximum is rolled again, roll again and subtract 2 from the third roll. Keep going until the highest number on the damage die doesn't come up. 5) Full Damage: Do full weapon damage on critical hits and full damage to yourself on critical misses 6) Random Multiplier: On a roll of natural 20, the player rolls damage, adding any bonuses he might have. He then rolls a d6, multiplying the damage done by the result. 7) Dexterity Check: If a natural one is rolled on an attack roll, roll a DEX check at half DEX (or a number the DM assigns in the case of a monster). If the check is made the attack simply misses. If it fails a fumble occurs, and any remaining attacks for that round are lost. In addition, every opponent who is in melee with the character who fumbled and/or any opponent who is aiming a missle or hurled weapon at this person gets an immediate free attack at +4 to hit, due to the poor character leaving himself wide open. 8) Lose an Attack: On a roll of a 1, the attacker fumbles and misses out on 1 attack. This means that a fighter with multiple attacks or someone with more than one weapon loses the next attack that round, and someone with only one attack per round may not attack during the next round. 9) D10 Method: Roll 1d10. If the result is 1-8, then the weapon does its maximum damage. If the result is 9-10, the weapon does double damage. 10) On a roll of natural '1,' you lose your weapon. 11) If a natural '20' is rolled, the attacker rolls again. If the second roll is higher than the attacker's level/HD, then it is a normal hit. If the second roll is lower than the attacker's level/HD, then the defender rolls. If this roll is lower than the defender's level/HD, then the hit does maximum damage. If this roll is higher than the defender's level/HD, then roll on your favorite critical hit chart for the results. 12) Free attack: If a natural '20' is rolled, damage is resolved normally. However, the character immediately gets a free attack, unless a natural '20' was required to hit in the first place. If a natural '20' is rolled on the free attack, then the character gets another free attack, and so on. 13) When resolving crits where another dice roll incidates whether extra damage is done, STR bonuses, magical weapon bonuses, etc. are added after the "extra" damage has been added to the rolled damage. 14) On a roll of natural '1,' the attacker must make a DEX check at -1 to -4, depending on the situation, or drop the weapon and lose initiative for the next round. If the DEX check is made, the character simply loses initiative for the next round. 15) any combination of any part of 1-14. 46: What can I do to make crossbows as useful as normal bows? A: If you wish to change the damage value of crossbows, here is a suggestion, averaged and smoothed out from many responses to the issue, and relatively balanced with respect to other weapons: S/M L Hand 1d4 1d4-1 Light 1d6+1 1d8+1 Medium 1d8+1 1d10+1 Heavy 1d10+1 2d6+1 If you wish to change the entire way crossbows are handled, here are a few suggestions to mix and match: 1. Make longbows 2 proficiencies to learn and 1 to specialize. 2. Change the nonproficient penalty by +1 for crossbows and -1 for long bows. Thus the to hit penalties for bows become: Warrior Wizard Priest/Rogue Longbow -3 -6 -4 Short bow -2 -5 -3 Crossbow -1 -4 -2 3. Make all crossbows +1 to hit, due to ease of use. 4. When resolving a hit with a crossbow, treat all armors with an AC of 4 or less as if they were AC 5 (add any magic bonuses after doing this). This can also be used for longbows. 5. When resolving a hit with a crossbow, treat all armors as if they were three slots worse, to a maximum of AC 10. This can also be used with longbows. 6. Give all crossbows and long bows relative strength values; use the Strength to hit and damage bonuses when using the bow. For longbows, the strength value is also the minimum strength needed to draw the string. For all bows, use the respective damage dice listed in the PH. 7. Use the optional rule for weapon type vs. armor type from the PH and treat all crossbow quarrels & longbow arrows as "piercing" weapons; remember that the number is a bonus to hit only, not a bonus to damage as well. 8. When using the damage dice listed in the PH, treat crossbows as arquebuses for the method of determining damage; i.e. if the maximum damage is rolled, roll again and add the results. Keep doing this until a lower number is rolled. This method may be used for any missile weapon that does not involve direct muscular effort, i.e. crossbows, ballistae, and atlatls could work this way, but short and long bows, and hurled weapons would not. ***End Part 6*** ***End FAQ***