Tower or Table? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Tower or Table? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
dunkirk_delvai
09-07-04, 02:41 PM I'm new to living greyhawk, and my local LG DM is a good friend so he got me started up. well ive been playing a home rule set of D&D for years now. this is all beside the point. a while ago i started playing 3.5 with my friend. and came quickly to the realisation that a tower sheild which provides a +4 armor bonus is only good if your playing a warrior or paladin that can carry such a thing and still be able to deal with its minuses. so heres the question i post to you. why not get a table?? yes, a table it provides the same bonus except its a cover bonus. and the best part no minuses to attack, provided you step out around it, or have the proper feats with a bow. the point is a halfling rogue can hide behind a table. its either as much or less weight then a tower sheild, and it will cover most of your party of 4-6.

the reason i know this. is because during a campaign with my current DM. it wasnt an LG legal game. we came to an incline that caused us to make a balance check on our way down. once we reached bottom a guard sounded an alarm a portcullis shut and we could do nothing against the javelins coming from the slats in the wall. some may say this is what you get for using the front door. however it was the only entrance we had a chance of finding. so we almost died. and then i became resourceful. rather then fall all over ourselves down this incline. why not slide. well this has a possiblity to deal subdual damage, but damage nonetheless. so we had to find something to slide on. something big enough to carry 5 members of a party. two dwarves, a gnome, and two humans. well what better then a dinner table, we nailed down some leather strips, packed it on the dwarf and went for a ride, we managed to infiltrate and take over the dungeon. with a dwarf fighter using a table as a sheild and providing a cover bonus for even a medium character standing behind him. yes its a big table, and yes it becomes useless at higher levels. but for a low level starting party. having a dwarf with a table is a good idea. so here you go, if you think im wrong let me know. if you have something else to say about the matter lets see what it is.
Cardinal Teplin
09-09-04, 10:59 AM Sounds reasonable to me. Of course, a table is heavy, akward, not strapped on, and may be too big to carry with one hand, no matter its weight or your strength.

But there's nothing wrong with using your imagination. My PC regularly carries a bag of chalk powder, and has seriously suggested taking a door with him, for improptu carpentry work. There's a guy on the swiss traiad who had a stretcher attached to his horse, and kept his crossbow on a leather sling. Another dwarven PC carried a plumb line, spirit level and measuring tape. I've also seen canopies for carrying bewteen adventurers when it rains, wheelbarrows in case they need to carry something heavy, like a wounded comrade, big nets and silver bells for campsite protection, and lots of dribbly black candles etched with arcane runes to convince people that here was a deadly enchantment that would kill you if you crossed it.

Other possibilties are bringing an adamantine knife and some mortar, and making your own brick walls out of local rock, and bringing a hole load of traps and a small selection of loud musical intruments. Set them up, then start your impromptu band playing around a corner. Creatures however intelligent rarely check for traps in their own lairs, and few will be able to ignore the noise without wanting to know what is going on.

My personal favourite using the spell 'mount' to seal up small corridors and stairways. By 4ht level it lasts long enough to let you get a decent night's sleep, knowing that very few things can slip silently past a large horse squeezed into 5' corrdor.
Eyeohn
09-21-04, 10:52 PM If you read a towershields description you will notice you may use it to take full cover behind, A nifty thing if your in a coridor facing only one oponent. I would think a table would incur atleast the same penalties as a tower shield if not more(who's proficient with a table?!) Now I believe there are rules for makeshift weapons and such stuff, though Im not familiar with them enough to quote them off the top of my head, but it might be a good thing to look up if your character is planning to make use of them regularly.
SgtHulka
09-22-04, 08:11 PM Great suggestions, Teplin.
Eyeohn
09-23-04, 04:38 PM rereading my post I have noticed it sounds(to me) almost like I was trying to discourage the use of.. well.. actions outside the box without a solid understanding of some mechanic used to power it. This is not the case, I have had plenty of games where a PC survived because of McGuyver like ingenuity, I think these kind of things are what make playing dungeons and dragons fun, If we could only do exactly what has been printed in the books the game would be far less appealing than it has been and is(for me anyways.)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
dunkirk_delvai 09-07-04, 02:41 PM	I'm new to living greyhawk, and my local LG DM is a good friend so he got me started up. well ive been playing a home rule set of D&D for years now. this is all beside the point. a while ago i started playing 3.5 with my friend. and came quickly to the realisation that a tower sheild which provides a +4 armor bonus is only good if your playing a warrior or paladin that can carry such a thing and still be able to deal with its minuses. so heres the question i post to you. why not get a table?? yes, a table it provides the same bonus except its a cover bonus. and the best part no minuses to attack, provided you step out around it, or have the proper feats with a bow. the point is a halfling rogue can hide behind a table. its either as much or less weight then a tower sheild, and it will cover most of your party of 4-6. the reason i know this. is because during a campaign with my current DM. it wasnt an LG legal game. we came to an incline that caused us to make a balance check on our way down. once we reached bottom a guard sounded an alarm a portcullis shut and we could do nothing against the javelins coming from the slats in the wall. some may say this is what you get for using the front door. however it was the only entrance we had a chance of finding. so we almost died. and then i became resourceful. rather then fall all over ourselves down this incline. why not slide. well this has a possiblity to deal subdual damage, but damage nonetheless. so we had to find something to slide on. something big enough to carry 5 members of a party. two dwarves, a gnome, and two humans. well what better then a dinner table, we nailed down some leather strips, packed it on the dwarf and went for a ride, we managed to infiltrate and take over the dungeon. with a dwarf fighter using a table as a sheild and providing a cover bonus for even a medium character standing behind him. yes its a big table, and yes it becomes useless at higher levels. but for a low level starting party. having a dwarf with a table is a good idea. so here you go, if you think im wrong let me know. if you have something else to say about the matter lets see what it is.
Cardinal Teplin 09-09-04, 10:59 AM	Sounds reasonable to me. Of course, a table is heavy, akward, not strapped on, and may be too big to carry with one hand, no matter its weight or your strength. But there's nothing wrong with using your imagination. My PC regularly carries a bag of chalk powder, and has seriously suggested taking a door with him, for improptu carpentry work. There's a guy on the swiss traiad who had a stretcher attached to his horse, and kept his crossbow on a leather sling. Another dwarven PC carried a plumb line, spirit level and measuring tape. I've also seen canopies for carrying bewteen adventurers when it rains, wheelbarrows in case they need to carry something heavy, like a wounded comrade, big nets and silver bells for campsite protection, and lots of dribbly black candles etched with arcane runes to convince people that here was a deadly enchantment that would kill you if you crossed it. Other possibilties are bringing an adamantine knife and some mortar, and making your own brick walls out of local rock, and bringing a hole load of traps and a small selection of loud musical intruments. Set them up, then start your impromptu band playing around a corner. Creatures however intelligent rarely check for traps in their own lairs, and few will be able to ignore the noise without wanting to know what is going on. My personal favourite using the spell 'mount' to seal up small corridors and stairways. By 4ht level it lasts long enough to let you get a decent night's sleep, knowing that very few things can slip silently past a large horse squeezed into 5' corrdor.
Eyeohn 09-21-04, 10:52 PM	If you read a towershields description you will notice you may use it to take full cover behind, A nifty thing if your in a coridor facing only one oponent. I would think a table would incur atleast the same penalties as a tower shield if not more(who's proficient with a table?!) Now I believe there are rules for makeshift weapons and such stuff, though Im not familiar with them enough to quote them off the top of my head, but it might be a good thing to look up if your character is planning to make use of them regularly.
SgtHulka 09-22-04, 08:11 PM	Great suggestions, Teplin.
Eyeohn 09-23-04, 04:38 PM	rereading my post I have noticed it sounds(to me) almost like I was trying to discourage the use of.. well.. actions outside the box without a solid understanding of some mechanic used to power it. This is not the case, I have had plenty of games where a PC survived because of McGuyver like ingenuity, I think these kind of things are what make playing dungeons and dragons fun, If we could only do exactly what has been printed in the books the game would be far less appealing than it has been and is(for me anyways.)