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(1259) When fighting a large winged demon with an aura of fire damage, don't get up in it's face. Let the back row do some work.

Figured that out last night.

Prom

1260: Do not be first in marching order.

1261: Or last.

(1262) If your wizard or arcane-user can wear armour, do it. It's so much easier to survive the DM's surprises if you are harder to hit.

I've been using armour with a wizard recently and it worked well. Spell failure, what's that? 

Prom

(1263): Roleplaying encounters and spending time wandering the town usually count as a nonstop short rest.

This is handy to know when considering...

(1264): Your encounter powers recharge after five minutes of non-strenuous activity. Use your dragonborn's ice breath to put out a fire, you'll get it back soon enough.

Furthermore

(1265): Pay attention to the fluff text for your powers, they can have a lot of uses outside of combat. Executioner's Noose can make a handy lasso or a garotte or be used to swing from the cieling like Indiana Jones or Spiderman. If you're worried you might accidentally kill somebody using one of your powers on them, just let the DM know that you're dealing non-lethal damage. You can even wait until they drop to 0 hp and declare them unconscious instead of dead. Rules says so.

1266: Remember that many fights seem (especially boss-fights) are like those in Zelda or Metroid: You don't need half the stuff you're carrying, as long as you have your basic attack and the last item you obtained. The rest just tends to make it easier to kill stuff.

1267: In 4.0, Memory to Mist is the easiest way to get away with murder. Just hope the guard isn't immune to magic.

1268: Memory to Mist is the easiest way to hire someone for free. Hire them, don't pay their initial fee. When they come after you, wipe their memory and tell them they told you to keep the money or that they would pay you if you would let them join you.

1269: Never underestimate the power of a well placed Magic Missile.

1270: Always think of others as enemies. That way you can't be surprised when they attack you.

1271: If it moves, you can blast it.

1272: If it talks, you can blast it.
 
1273: If it Shines or flashes, you can blast it.

1274: If it does none of the above, you can still blast it.

1275: If it doesn't exist on the same plane as you, you can always try blasting it anyway (Planar Portal helps)

1276: If it comes rushing at you with swords, spears, axes, maces or other dangerous weapons, don't hesitate. Blast it!

1277: If your group has a tendency of arguing over stuff that one character can use better than another, and the one who can't use it as good ends up with it, have the DM ask the players what items they each want. If anyone gets crap, they asked for the wrong stuff.

1278: Minions may only have 1 HP, but if they hit you, they still deal damage. Try to hit them before they hit you.

1279: Sleep does wonders for blocking a narrow tunnel. Just block the tunnel with a group of unconcious minions/lesser creatures.

1280: Whenever the DM describes a room/area/arena/city square, remember to ask about every single detail in the vicinity. He may have "forgotten" to mention that the giant rat carries diseases (the plague, rabies, anything more or less deadly) or the gargantuan Ancient Red Dragon that is trying to sneak up on you.

1281: If the DM say there is an army, assume it's an actual army, as in 500 or more elite soldiers and thousands of minions and lesser soldiers. Also assume they're coming towards you.

1282: Ever heard of this nice skill called Insight? It's something atleast one of you (preferably all of you) should invest a bit in. It has helped me figure out when people were putting us in potential danger.

1283: If you can scare the enemy away, you will gain EXP for scaring the crap out of them. This can be done until they kill themselves for you.

1284: With high enough Bluff, you can fool the BBEG into attacking his minions.

1285: With poor enough Bluff, you can make the BBEG laugh at your pathetic attempt at doing the above for 6 seconds, after which he will most likely kill you (or die trying).

1286: If you encounter something that shouldn't be in a medieval setting, you can expect more stuff to show up.

1287: Natural 20s tend to happen when you need them the least. Minions only increase the chance.

Some more I just learned:

1288: If you're standing at the top of a tower, and you need to hurry down, the fastest way is never jumping off the edge. It takes the cleric six hours to revive you, while it would only take a minute to run down the stairs.

1289: You know it's a good time to have your PC retire, when you beat Orcus and the DM says "that was just the BBEG's servant."

1290: Every time the DM smiles, one or more PCs are extremely close to getting killed off.

1291: If the DM smiles when you suggest something, don't do it.

1292: d20s tend to (in my experience) be affected by the surroundings. When they land near our birds, they are usually a natural 20. When we roll the dice in the opposite end of the table, they only show natural 20s when its against minions or on a pointless skill check that has nothing to do with the campaign at all.

1293: The Warlord is supposed to be a strategist. Don't let a moron play a Warlord.

1294: Try not to overpower your character, if others don't do it. The DM will just make encounters tougher to counteract this overpowered character, much to the weaker ones' dismay.

1295: If you're a Deva Wizard, you can get up to 4 Daily Spells and 3 Daily Utility Spells (if you choose the right feats) every time the others only get 1. Take advantage of this.

1296: Bring some bandages. They may not heal you, but they can keep you from bleeding to death.

1297: The commoners are not meant as target practice for your Infernal Curse, just so you can get a bit of Temp HP.

1298: Don't correct the DM. Don't ignore him either.

1290: Have you ever tried being imprisoned in a cold, wet, dark dungeon with water slowly coming through the walls? If not, don't aim for it.

1291: Just because you're a Paladin, it doesn't mean that you have to be a do-goodie-goodie Paladin. You can still beat the living crap out of everything that attacks you, even if by mistake.

1292: Lawful Good Paladins that are in the same party as a Chaotic Bloodthirsty Infernal Warlock either become morally corrupt or die. Dying removes all chances for role-playing the character. Becoming morally corrupt doesn't.

1293: Never blame the guy who wants to drain your blood to use it in a ritual.

1294: "Who wants to learn about dragon-poop?" is NOT a proper way to introduce your dragon-expert.

1295: If the druid has a boar as his/her companion, do not refer to it as "Bacon".

1296: If the druid's boar companion is killed by fire damage, don't ask what's for lunch/dinner. The timing may seem a little inappropriate.

1297: Treat your allies with respect and they may try to refrain from killing you off during the first battle.

1298. A Pint of oil servers many purposes. Crowd control, cover an escape, warmth, keeps dragon from breathing fire on you (Good story about that, had a dragon born threaten to breath fire on me, I took a pint of oil and threw it on him, and told him to go ahead.)

1299. A good back story to a character not only add something to your character, but can help you out in game. (I like doing the son of a traveling merchant, allows him to have seen the world a bit allowing him to know things that others many not of know/seen)

1300. Remember others players back story, and use it to get them to do what you want.

1301. If you got a magic item way to easy, make sure its not cursed or a tracking device.

 1302. When sleeping in an Inn, block the door, and have a rope ready at the window.

1303. If the DM says a name more than once, write it down.

1303. Don't keep all your gold in one bag/pocket.

1304. When playing a small character (IE Gnome or Halfling)  the Dragon born/Gathloith can use you as a throwing spear, so keep this in mind if you start getting made when your called small. (And the DM thought one was going to get away to tell the king we killed his men, well my +2 throwing Gnome said otherwise)

1305. Keep in mind the hight of members in your party, especially if your attacks are ranged or your a small character. (My swordmage Gnome, and the Dragonborn Paladin blocked a narrow hall  extremely well, hard to push a dragon born, much less do it when you are missing your legs :P) (Also our ranger tried to shoot over out Dragonborn, needless to say he didn't like the arrow in the back of his head)

correction for 1303: If the DM says a name, write it down (only important people have names anyway).

Some more:

1306: Always make sure to have different weapons. If you're a character with high STR, carry a sword, an axe, a hammer and a spear. If you're the Striker go with a sword, some javellins and a crossbow or longbow (never the shortbow. It's not worth it). Controllers should stick with a staff (no pun intended) and a dagger (which can be tied together and be used as a make-shift spear). You don't know when you encounter something that your sword can't cut through, so keep an extra weapon or five in your inventory.

1307: Always - ALWAYS - do what you're supposed to do. Blocking the path for those enemies may seem like a heroic deed, unless your class is "Squishy", while staying in the rear may seem better unless you're the guy with a +6 Godplate Armor and a +6 Vorpal Fullblade/Bastard Sword.

1308: Don't hit the DM.

1309: Don't trust the DM.

1310: Don't show him you don't trust him either.

1311: If the DM asks for something, hand it over.

1312: When a stranger wearing a dark coat approaches you and asks you to do something for him, either run away or chop down the stranger and then run away. The guards are never harder to deal with than any annoying sidequest that involves feeding a dragon. (We experienced this last session. We were told to get an item, which sounded harmless enough, and went out to get it, only to be met by a Blue Dragon when we left the manor. We were a little annoyed with the quest client afterwards.)

1313: Never get sidetracked. Sidetracks are the perfect opportunity for the DM to send something deadly after you. Something deadly like, say, a Templated Dragon (a dragon with a template) or a Templated Devil with his army of minions.

1314: There is no such thing as "A dull moment". Get used to it.

1315: Got a Spellscar? Make sure to either take the feats to use your Spellscar or have someone remove it. If you have it with the right feats, it can be quite beneficial. Otherwise it's just annoying.

* In town
1316: This was mentioned before: make contacts from all walks of life. Merchant, inn keeper, guard, black market fence, priest, library, bum. Everyone can have a use, whether the nature of that use is monetary or information.

1317: Use your reputation. It doesn't matter whether that rep is a "kind hearted, giving to the orphanage" type or a "ruthless thieves' guild enforcer" type, make the absolute most of it.

* In dungeons
1318: Carry sacks to put your non-essential stuff in. That way you can keep the important stuff with you at all times and ditch the other stuff in 10 to 20 lb. increments. These non-essential bags could potentially distract or trip up pursuers. (BTW, always keep the bag of holding hidden and with you. Just dump the normal sacks.)

1319: Make sure your party discusses who is responsible for carrying what "important" items before implementing the above tip.

1320: Spread around your resources so that everyone is potentially self-sufficient. You never know when you'll get separated.

1321: Don't use Fool's Gold on a Dragon's Hoard. They don't like it when their gold disappears later on.

1322: Learn how far you allies are willing to go in order to save you, before taking a curse/poison/anything for the team.

1323: If you're in a labyrinth, it's not always a good idea to stick to one wall. You're only more likely to walk into a trap.

1324: Don't use torches in ancient, wooden buildings, where the air and walls are completely dry. You just set yourself and your allies on fire.

1325: In battle, you have four options: Fight, run, negotiate or intimidate. Remember that some enemies may be hard to hit but if you're lucky, you might scare the living hell out of them.

1326: If your HP is low, heal. If your HP is depleted, get someone to heal you.

1327: Whenever an NPC smiles, add them to your death note.

1328: With high enough Stealth, you can sneak around anywhere. With high enough Attack Bonus and Damage Bonus, you can kill the guards.

1329: Need to enter the BBEG's fortress? Just wipe out the guards instead of climbing over the wall. It's faster and probably also easier.

Oct 17, 2007 -- 9:41PM, Prom wrote:

(52) Getting ambushed at night while sleeping is troublesome, and happens often. If you wear heavy armour, get a spare set of light armour to wear while sleeping. This is because sleeping in medium or heavy armour fatigues your character. You don't want to be fighting the enemy with a low AC because you took the armour off. If you have medium armour you can take the "Endurance" feat to negate the fatiguing effect of sleeping in medium armour, it is helpful.  Fantastic advice, I hope people don't run out of tips.  Prom

or you could just use a restfull crystal 100 gold from the expanded pscionics

1330: Fire is only awesome until it consumes you.

1331: If your Quest client is a dragon, don't pet it.

1332: Try not to hit your allies with Sleep.

1333: Especially during a boss battle.

1334: Killing random NPCs may seem like a good idea, if they are evil.

1335: Except when there's a necromancer in town.

1336: if you see a shiny red button, you've already lost.  if you press it, it will rain down death and mind flayers upon your head.  if you don't, it would have provided you with mind flayer repellant for all the mind flayers that happened into the room while you were debating.

1337: look up

1338: if trying to hide something from the rest of the party, the character who likes you least will be the only one to succeed on his perception check.

1339: dreams ALWAYS mean something

1340: unless your DM is a dick.

1341: keep the healer in back

1342: as soon as you start doing 1341 habitually, the monsters will start ambushing you from behind.

1343: never try your "clever idea using a bag of holding."  it won't work, and you'll probably blip out of existence.

1344: keep on your person at all times: a portable hole, an immovable rod, a bag of holding, something to write on/with, a knife hidden up your bum(they always check the boot).

1345: Remember that the only things more valuable than your allies are whatever items you're carrying. Don't be afraid to ditch an ally to save your own hide.

1346: Allies are like power-ups. You can never have too many.

1347: If they have an army and you have four characters, run.

1348: If you have an army and they have four characters, run. They can probably still kick your butts.

1349: When you consider killing someone random, assume they're stronger than you.

1350: Running is always a better option than fighting a war you can't win.

1351: Line of Sight and Line of Effect both pass through allies. The Ranger's Line of Fire doesn't always.

1352: When you're having the best battle in a while, run. It just means you're going to die.

1353: Never let the wizard play with cantrips in the presence of the king.

1354: If your allies ask where you're going in the middle of a battle, tell them you're going to need to recharge your spells (usually only works if you're a spellcaster).

1355) Pillage then burn.

1356) Always hire/ be  a jewel smith ;  pricious art items x3-5  in gold

1357) Always haggle  never pay book price

1358 ) Rember when you owe someone money  it's now more your partys issue than yours .

1359 ) Always have plausible  deniability  in everything .

1360 ) rember that creatures that have hyper active sences are vulnerable, via those sences . A dog wistle hurts a gnole, blink dog , dire wolf , golbin riding wolf , archon, were-wolf  ears , just as much as a dogs .  ( warning DMs HATE  this fact and will steal your dog wistles )

1361) Most  monsters don't were shoes . This means contact poisions works on their feet . 

1362: When you want to go shopping, a Wizard who knows the Fool's Gold ritual is quite useful. Just make sure you're friends with that Wizard.

1363: Never question physics in DnD.

1364: Buildings can vary in height, depending on how many PCs are standing on it and how many can be blown off the roof in one attack. The more, the taller.

1365: Don't criticize the DM.

1366: If all else fails, cast Sleep on yourself. Monsters usually ignore unconcious enemies.

1367: You can always come back after your dead allies. Unless they're eaten by the time you return, that is.

This one is from Kodt

1368 . Have your chars use  S.O.P  actions ( Standard. Operating. Procedures )  Ie holding one breath when that char enters a room .  dip your unicorns horn ring in every glass you drink from  drink   

1369: Always make sure to ask the DM for ALL the details in the room. If he doesn't say enough, ask for more details.

1370: Never expect your allies to watch your back.

1371: Look behind you every now and then. You don't know when the rogue will try to pickpocket you or if there's a hungry dragon behind you.

1372: If you can use the surroundings to your advantage, consider them your allies. If not, blast them with a Fireball spell.

1373: Using a fire-based spell in Wood Elf town in an attempt to impress the townsfolk may not be the best idea.

1374: Especially when that Wood Elf town is built in the trees.

1375: And when they're suffering from a drought.

1376: If your character suddenly starts being more effective than usually, it's time to retire.

1377: Avoid eye-contact with the DM. He'll just make you do something more dangerous than whatever you're planning (unless you plan on drinking acid and then jumping off the tallest building/cliff/mountain/whatever possible and landing in a spikepit... head first).

1378: Always bring a group of peasants with you. You don't know when you'll encounter a group of Mind Flayers or a Dragon.

1379: Sometimes, offering your services to the BBEG is the better option.

1380: Other times, offering someone else's souls to the BBEG is an even better option.

1381: Always make sure to describe how you swing your sword. Do you swing it horizontally or vertically? Where do you aim? Which end of the sword do you hold in your hand? (some DMs may assume you hold the blade and attack with the hilt.)

1382: If you have a chance of killing a bunch of minions with a Fireball at the expense of a Gnome ally, remember that the need of the many out-weighs the need of the Gnomish.

1383: Never, under any circumstances, use Prestidigitation to make it look like the rogue was stabbed. He'll pay you back.

1384: Always keep track of how many Healing Surges you have left. It sucks to find out that you're out of Healing Surges when you really need to use one.

1385: Always make sure to have Healing Potions.

1386: If the Healer asks if anyone needs healing, say yes.

1387: When the DM smiles, you're screwed.

1388: If the Gnome Artificer says he has a way to make your equipment better, never ever volunteer.

1389: If you are sent to kill an evil cult who're hiding in a cave, bring LOTS of Alchemist's Fire. Place most of the bottles around the walls wherever you want, and the rest except for one with 10 feet space between them. Then get to a safe distance and have the ranged-attack-expert launch the last bottle of Alchemist's Fire at the 'fuse' or have the wizard/sorceror/warlock cast a fire-spell on either of the bottles. You will cause a cave-in, hopefully killing the cult (if not, they'll die from asphyxiation), thus completing the mission without a fight.

1390: Prestidigitation can annoy the crap out of the other party members. Always be careful when using it.

1391: Try to remember as many of the tips in this thread as possible. You know, just in case...

1392: If you need an extra hand against minions, you can always cast Raise Dead on the ones you just slaughtered.

1393: If your personal record in time alive is less than half an hour, play another class.

1394: Anything worth buying is worth stealing.

1395: With high enough Arcana, you don't have to roll a d20 to see how much false gold you can make, in case you need to bribe some guards.

1396: When it comes down to running or fighting, ignore what the others choose and run.

1397: If you're caught in a prison-cell, always use a scrying ritual to see what's on the other side of the wall before teleporting. Unless you know Feather Fall.

1398: Don't piss off a Quest Client.

1399: Don't piss off a Dragon either.

1400: If it comes down to either pissing off the Dragon or the Quest Client, bring the Quest Client to the dragon and let him be eaten.

Aaaaand we're at the 1400. Maybe, given enough time, it can become a 10001 survival guide instead?

YES !
1394: Anything worth buying is worth stealing.

me thinks that maby we sould have a revised list of the top 100 rules  in a new topic , of maby top 300 .

1401: Always try to negotiate with the BBEG before attempting to kill him.

1402: The end does not always justify the means.

1403: Especially not if you're a Lawful Good Paladin.

1404: Sometimes, you can make a demon realize how bad his actions are.

1405: Tenser's Floating Disk has a time-limit. Make sure to create a new Disk BEFORE using it to cross that lava pool/acid pool.

1406: Never rely on a Natural 20.

1407: If you're a Rogue, make sure to have as many ranks as possible in Stealth and Thievery. This way you may be able to pick-pocket the BBEG during his monologue.

1408: Some DMs are fair. Just don't expect yours to be one of those.

1409: A Monk is usually the only character where "Disarmed" means "Mutilated".

1410: When a poor street urchin asks if you have a silver piece he can borrow, give him a bag of gold pieces and tell him to keep them. This way he is not as likely to turn against you, and you've gained a new ally.

1411: If the DM says a name, add those to your "avoid" list.

1412: When you're grappled, teleport. If you can't teleport, live with having some giant beast hugging you.

1413: When the gnome says he needs a test subject, vote for a peasant.

1414: The most important person in the party is yourself. The second-most important person is the healer. The rest can be sacrificed without trouble.

1415: Always be prepared for every possible outcome of any situation. Unless you have great Stealth or Bluff.

1416: The Paladin won't allow torture if he's nearby. If you can fool him into believing there's an evil-doer outside the inn/mansion/dungeon, it's a completely different matter.

1417: Do not let the Wizard play with cantrips in the throne room.

1418: If you need to get out of jail, teleporting is faster than fooling the guard into coming closer, so you can steal the keys.

1419: A Chaotic Evil character and a Lawful Good character don't fit into the same team.

1420: When shopping, always buy Healing Potions.

1421: When looting, always keep any Healing Potions you find.

1422: If you're offered either gold or Healing Potions, take the Potions.

1423: Raise Dead is the potentially best ritual in the game. You can resurrect all the enemies you kill and create your own army.

1424: When in doubt, send the Meat-Shield at them.

1425: If you wind up in jail, don't expect your allies to bail you out.

1426: When you do something and the DM says "No, you don't", don't do it.

1427: Don't be afraid of declining a quest if it can keep you alive.

1428: Never ask if you can steal that holy relic from the temple swarming with 30th Level PC-Paladins before asking if there are any guards.

1429: Don't waste a High-level spell on a peasant. It just doesn't play out well in the end.

1430: Every time you accept a Quest, make sure to question every single villager, even the poor farmer, whose barn you just fried. Some of them may have knowledge that can prove useful. If not, you've kept yourselves alive for those extra hours.

1431: If someone puts a curse on you, try to use the curse to your advantage.

1432: Don't expect NPCs to keep their promises.

1433: Don't purposely try to trigger the obvious trap in the hopes that it doesn't reset itself.  It will invariably be a resetting trap and will trigger a secondary trap that will fill the entire room with arcane fire and cook you alive.

1434: Forcing enemies to fall from elevated positions is an acceptable way to boost your DPR.

1435: Damage dice - settle for nothing less than d10s.

1436: Don't ever rely on save ends effects to incapacitate the BBEG.

(1437) When the party is out of resources like, spells, healing, etc don't keep pushing on.

My group did this recently as there was a time limit. We should of just bugged out and left the quest be a failure. More than a few characters died.

As for a new revised list, you are welcome to try. LOL.

1438: Remember: In battle, 'surprised' is another word for 'dead'.

1439: Most enemies aren't stupid. Underestimate their intelligence and you may find yourself in a tough situation.

1440: Always have a spare Hide Armor. 'Cause it really sucks to be fighting a giant rust monster and have your only AC-bonus destroyed.

1441: Never buy a shiny new armor right before heading against a rust monster.

1442: Why dodge when you can have a shield? (If your Dex-mod is low)

1443: Why have a shield when you can dodge? (If your Dex-mod is high)

1444: One we have found during an actual game session, regarding the Assassin-Class: Why walk when you can teleport?

(1445) Let the power gamer in the group make your character for you, that will increase your survival chances.

It's not a character driven way to make a character, but really who cares.

i apologize for any duplicates

1446. If the barbarian runs away from it while hes raging. you may want to follow him

1447. when choosing between 2 weapons that will deal the same damage (ie greatsword/greataxe) pick the one that requires more dice to roll. because minimum damage of 2 is better than minimum damage of 1.

1448. dont underestimate your DM. just because its his first time and he may not understand all the rules 100%. he is not afriad to send a deamon of his own creation, inspired by everything ever created with immunities to magical damage, psionic damage and an unnaturally high Damage reduction (even for its CR rating). it will find you. it will torture you. it will kill you and it will leave your body to be found in some redicoulus or embarassing setting that will cause your kick ass character to be forever remebered as the laughing stock of the rest of your gaming years.

1449. Get All the Non core books , because your bond to find really overpowered stuff in them

Jun 14, 2010 -- 11:54AM, Kenlar wrote:

1416: The Paladin won't allow torture if he's nearby. If you can fool him into believing there's an evil-doer outside the inn/mansion/dungeon, it's a completely different matter.

1450: Or point out the lovely farm houses nearby

Sir Osric the Chaste: "My, what fine yet rustic architecture, I shall go and investigate it further."

Jul 14, 2010 -- 2:04AM, Incarnatos wrote:

Jun 14, 2010 -- 11:54AM, Kenlar wrote:

1416: The Paladin won't allow torture if he's nearby. If you can fool him into believing there's an evil-doer outside the inn/mansion/dungeon, it's a completely different matter.

1450: Or point out the lovely farm houses nearby

Sir Osric the Chaste: "My, what fine yet rustic architecture, I shall go and investigate it further."

That's kinda where I got that one from...

1451: A Vorpal Falchion is ALWAYS deadlier than a Vorpal Fullblade. 2d4 gives you a greater chance of rolling max damage than 1d12.

1452: If there's an injured dragon, heal it instead of killing it. If you're lucky, it will be endebted to you. If not, you might consider running or killing it.

1453: Don't go into depth with descriptions for your attacks that indicate that they are possible to carry out in the real world. Nobody cares if an attack is physically possible, as long as it works.

1454: 2 words: FOCUS FIRE!

1455: When acting as an intermediary between your group and some hostile creatures, make sure to know what to translate, and what not to translate, so you don't tell the enemy what your group is planning.

1456: Being drunk in-game is no excuse for hitting the guards.

1457: Nor hitting on them.

1458: Being drunk in real life is no excuse for hitting the guards either.

1459: Nor hitting on them.

1460: Don't let the DM have any kind of liquid behind his screen. If he spills on his notes, he will just have to make up something.

1461: If you have to make a Character over-powered, make sure your Will is the highest defense you have. 'Cause it really sucks for your allies to be killed off by you, just because you didn't know the enemy can dominate you.

1451 Correction. Actually the D12 weapon has the best chance to score max damgage.  A 2d4 weapon has 16 possible outcome 1 of which is max damage. (4,4) While the D12 has 12 outcomes 1 of which is max Damage. (12)

Jul 23, 2010 -- 9:23PM, Little_Puppy wrote:

1451 Correction. Actually the D12 weapon has the best chance to score max damgage.  A 2d4 weapon has 16 possible outcome 1 of which is max damage. (4,4) While the D12 has 12 outcomes 1 of which is max Damage. (12)

correction on the correction accutally 1d4 gives the best chance of max damage 25%

1462: Don't stuff random plants in your mouth.

1463: Not even when making a Perception check.

1464: If there's a wounded Dragon, always heal him. This way, there's a chance he'll be in your debt. Otherwise, you can always just promise to work for him in order for him to let you live.

1465: Don't piss off the royal guards.

1466: Don't try to set another plane on fire.

Addition to 1465: Don't piss on the guards either.

1467: Don't let your allies get away with burning the bridge between you and the exit.

1468: Always take advantage of your allies.

1469: If you take ongoing damage and the enemy uses another attack that deals ongoing damage, hope for the damage to be the same type.

1470: Always negotiate with the DM.

1471: (As of Essentials) Magic Missile is your deadliest at-will spell. It deals fixed damage, and you don't have to roll an attack roll. Use it (You also start with it no matter what). If used against minions, it's instant death with a 0% failure rate.

1472: Always use whatever is at hand. Every round you spend looking for a weapon to replace the one the rust monster just destroyed, is another round it can try to destroy your armor as well. Even if it means using a weapon you're not proficient with.

1473: When a player is acting like a jerk towards the entire party, you do not want to call him a jerk.

1474: Don't laugh at the DM when he rolls a natural 1. His next attack roll against you will be a critical.

1475: There's usually a reason why switches are in their default off-position. Flipping them will be your last mistake.

1476: If there's a wizard who wants you to get him some dragon scales, kill him. We had this happen in our first campaign. We met a wizard who wanted us to get him some dragon scales, which we saw nothing wrong with, seeing as how a single wizard can't beat a dragon alone. Especially not if the wizard is a decrepit old man too. So we got him the scales over the next many levels. Then in level 21, when we had just reached Epic Tier, the wizard turned against us and wiped the floor with our toasted corpses. I'm starting to have second thoughts when old men ask for some scales.

1477: If at first you don't succeed, give up. Nothing worth trying once is worth trying twice.

1478: Always have a few accomplices in every town. You don't know when they'll come in handy.

1479: Always keep track of how much damage every single enemy has taken. This way, you might be able to know how much HP the BBEG's minions have.

1480: As soon as you buy a sunrod, ask the blacksmith to make a holder on the top of your helm to hold the sunrod. You may look stupid, having a sunrod protruding from your head, but at least you can see the enemy.

1481: Always remember that there's always a bigger fish. Even in the BBEG's case.

1482: There can be traps everywhere. Even in the middle of the town square.

1483: Sunrods are not always better than torches. You can't F-ing cook food over a sunrod.

1484: Always know the NPCs' true wishes and desires. Quest clients want to get you killed so they don't have to pay you, blacksmiths hope your equipment gets busted up and/or destroyed, barkeepers want you to get so drunk you don't remember how much you drank and merchants have a thief hired to pickpocket you the moment you step into his store.

1485: Burning down houses doesn't always alarm the guards of your precense. One of the others in our group did this once, and the guards didn't come at all. Even when I told them that the house had been set on fire by our Psychotic Bloodthirsty Infernal Warlock (apparently the only kind of warlocks our group knows of. They're not really Evil. Just Psychotic Bloodthirsty).

(1486) Spend some time learn the rules. That way when you take a silly action you are not stuck with it when the DM says, "sorry you have already stated your action".

Happened to me a few times.

Just some I learned during our last session:

1487: Don't mock the DM.

1488: Don't try to cheat. The DM will find out and make the enemies harder for you to hit. It also ruins your own fun.

1489: Don't believe in your allies. They won't come and save you before you're lying on the ground bearing close resemblence to a vat of beef stroganof that has just exploded.

1490: Don't drop your cell phone on your way home. We have had this happen recently with one of  our players, who had dropped his phone on his way from school, only to have it found and picked up by a person who was headed to Sri Lanka, where he forgot the phone. We were unable to come in contact with said player for a while, but assumed he was just knocked out after a slightly too intense bar-trip.

1491: When starting a campaign, it is always a very good idea to make a SWOT-analysis on the party and the group. This way, you will know what Strengths and Weaknesses the group and party has, as well as any potential Opportunities and Threats (Hence, SWOT-analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis).

1492: Never walk around with anything you cannot afford to replace.

1493: Don't try to wake up an unconcious character with your axe
1494: Don't cut off a dwarf's beard while they are unconcious
1495: Tipping commoners makes the DM happy, because you realize they are more than NPC's
1496: Remember, 1sp is alot of money for a commoner
1497: Introducing new characters is an amusing situation, remember that you may have no reason to trust them
1498: DMs have no fear
1499: After saying 1498, remember, its almost the player's duty to find the line, and erase it
1500: DnD is fun, and forums are for posting the 1500th tip
1501: AoO are awesome
1502: Screw optimization, I have character!
1503: Characters with accents are awesome
1504: Dms will always have the guards confiscate your weapons, monks are weapons
1505: If the DM pulls out a calculator, run and hide
  

1506: Do not let the DM know if your character has a problem with another PC. In 100% of the situations, the DM will kill your character to solve the problem for you.

1507: Despite what you may have learnt from watching anime (if you're into anime, that is), it takes more than just spirit to instantly kill an enemy.

1508: Somehow, bringing cake to a session is a sure-fire way to make sure your character makes it through the session alive and in one piece.

1509: If your character decided to make up new versions of Magic Missile, make sure you don't call it Magic F.O.F. Missile. There's a reason that F.O.F. (Friend Or Foe) Missiles are also known as F.A.P. (Fire And Pray) Missiles.

1510: Always ask the quest clients what kind of environment you will be fighting in. 'Cause it really sucks to be headed off to a series of naval battles and not bringing a ship, or to be in a mine and not have picks or drills to make a way out when (not if) the mine collapses.

1511: No matter how old a cave or mine may be, they will only collapse when the party is in the section furthest from any exit.

1512: Sometimes, it may be a good idea to select an ass-kicking theme when creating your character. Playing said ass-kicking theme when you crit will not only make it look more awesome, but also increase the chance of you scoring another crit next round.

1513: Never underestimate the power of a well-placed at-will power.

1514: There's always a reason why the DM sends increasingly deadly monsters after you. He never tells you the real reason.

1515: Just because the demon doesn't look armed, it doesn't mean that it can't fry you in seconds.

1516: Having a higher resistance to a certain damage type than the damage taken, doesn't mean you regain HP. It just means the DM will say you're cheating and change the damage type.

1517: Always make sure your Perception is higher than your Stealth. Because it really sucks to lose track of yourself (some DMs are mean enough to say "So you use Stealth? Fine. Make a Perception Check. If you fail, you can't find yourself anymore. Then make up a new character."). It happened to me once.

1518: NEVER ACCUSE THE DM OF CHEATING! The DM never cheats, he just momentarily bends the rules to his own advantage.

1519: The stealth-tweaked Rogue/Assassin hybrid may very well be able to become effectively invisible if he moves 3 squares per turn.  This does not mean he should be permitted to use this skill to remain behind and spy on anyone.  Natural 1s do happen, and people close doors.

(To elaborate (it was my first game, the party were a mix of level 1 and 2), we had just been talking with a high-level noble knight who was recently assassinated and raised again.  The Rogue/Assassin hybrid decided it would be a good idea to stay behind for... some reason...  He made a stealth check as we left, snuck back in, and spent the next 10 or so turns whilst the rest of the party got the heck out of the grounds, after the knight had locked the door, making stealth checks and walking round the perimeter of the room.  Inevitably, the rogue failed a stealth check, guards were called for.  He attempted to Bluff his way out, and rolled a natural 1 on that check too.  Fortunately, the DM was forgiving, and he only got a 10GP fine and an hour in jail (clearly the DM has had experience of some of the items on this list, since he was put in jail naked) - the knight and his guards could easily have killed him, and the whole group would easily have been liable.  He didn't even learn (or steal) anything useful...)

1520: A closed door is an invisible character's worst enemy.  Well, that and listen checks.

Regarding the flour discussions earlier: people often forget that powdered organic substances, when puffed into the air in appropriate volume can explode.  Tossing the bag of flour to reveal invisible enemies, then blowing the resulting cloud up with a tossed candle, match, or Prestidigitation, will result (assuming your DM is forgiving, I somehow doubt there's a rule for this) in not only a detected invisible enemy, but a mildly charred one, too.

Nov 1, 2010 -- 2:22PM, thespaceinvader wrote:

1520: A closed door is an invisible character's worst enemy.

Why is a closed door an invisible character's worst enemy? Unless he stands behind the door and opens it, without any allies being nearby, I don't see how a door can be dangerous.

On a completely unrelated note:

1521: Do not accidentally push another player's character into a lavapool. The  player will get his revenge. And not the way you expect it.

1522: If there's a chance that whatever you're doing might succeed, it will fail.

1523: If you find an ancient tome inside a ruin, do not touch it.

Clarifying: a closed door is a LONE invisible character's worst enemy.  It traps you with your foes - if you open it, they know where you are.  Most invisible characters are pretty squishy.  The enemy knowing where you are allows them to attack/throw things/shoot/loose spells at you.  OK, it's a lot more RP than RAW, but meh.

Has anyone compiled and sorted these tips into something like a PDF? If not I would certainly begin work on that right away!

1525.  During character creation, make sure you won't be AC-incompetent.  No matter how sneaky you (think you) are, something or other WILL show up at close range with a plain old weapon and use it on you.  Or an archer will get the drop on you.  These new high-damage-expression monsters HURT !

Nov 24, 2010 -- 8:04PM, BRJN wrote:

1525.  During character creation, make sure you won't be AC-incompetent.  No matter how sneaky you (think you) are, something or other WILL show up at close range with a plain old weapon and use it on you.  Or an archer will get the drop on you.  These new high-damage-expression monsters HURT !

1525 supplemental: If you make a warlock, remember that they can use any armor up to chainmail. Not just the plain old cloth armor. This means you generally have a better chance surviving.
1526: Even if you are, in fact, the party's Defender, it is never a good idea to draw the attention from every single enemy. The more enemies attacking you, the greater the chance that each one crits.
1527: During the BBEG's extensive monologue, always look around in his lair. Who knows, he might actually be keeping his only weakness inside his lair, just waiting for you to use it against him.

1528. If the DM says,

"At this point, I will politely remind you that you can always camp out  . . . for an extended rest, if you so choose; you do not have to rush on to the next encounter if you do not wish to do so."

it may be a good idea to listen to him.

Nov 29, 2010 -- 8:29AM, Daystorm wrote:

1528. If the DM says,

"At this point, I will politely remind you that you can always camp out  . . . for an extended rest, if you so choose; you do not have to rush on to the next encounter if you do not wish to do so."

it may be a good idea to listen to him.

It's always a good idea to listen to the DM when he points out what should be obvious.

1529: Always read your powers thoroughly before the session. You don't want to end up spending 5 minutes choosing which power to use, just to hear the DM say 'Okay, so you wait. Next up is..."

1530: Never let the BBEG try to trick you with reverse psychology. You'll just end up being their slave/dinner.

1531: If, inside the BBEG's lair, you find a sphere that the BBEG hasn't ever seen before, do not incinerate the sphere. It'll just prove to be an orb that keeps the BBEG from going crazy and try to kill you as slowly as possible.

A few more entries. Might as well keep this thread alive for as long as possible.

1532: No matter how angry you get at the DM, do not take it out on the NPCs.

1533: The Redshirt Army Rule: The strength of NPCs depends on their numbers. There will always be one master, but all other NPCs will be easily outmatched by a 3-year old boy with a stick, even if they are an army.

(based on advice given in Portal)
1534: Do not touch the operational end of any device.

1535: Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you must.

1536: Anything worth doing is worth rethinking.

1537: Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
1537 supplemental: Same goes for anything that can't go wrong.

Some lessons we learned during our latest session:
1538: If the DM says something, play along.

1539: If a single enemy is trying to escape, immediately focus-fire on him. He'll just alert the enemies in the next room and make the battle harder.

1540: Killing the BBEG's most loyal servant before the BBEG is never a good idea.

1540 Supplemental: Especially not when doing it before (as in "in front of") the BBEG.

1541: When the King says that he doesn't want to speak with you before you've done something, it doesn't mean that he is willing to speak to you once you've done it either.

1542: Always double-check the names of NPCs, 'cause you don't want to be walking into the temple of Bahamut and kill the High Priest, when you are sent out to kill the BBEG whose name just happens to be very similar. You may need to do excuse for you mistake when the capitol is burnt to a crisp because you killed the wrong NPC.

1542: Do not panic.
1543: Do not forget your towel.  Towels are the most effective and most useful tool an adventurer can have.
1544: Don't always assume you will get that extended rest when you have gone through a major encounter.
1545: A party that uses ALL or MOST of their dailies in a single encounter is almost impossible to defeat.
1546: A party that uses ALL or MOST of their dailies in a single encounter can be very squishy in the next encounter.
1547: You will have quite a few dailies in your arsenal when you hit mid-paragon tier and beyond, both in attack powers, utilities, and features.  Don't be afraid to use one or even two in an encounter; it can make that encounter much easier and can make your party better off to face the next encounter.
1548: Ultimately, good or bad judgment can make the difference between a good day's adventuring and a possible near-TPK.
1549: Leaders will be effective no matter what party makeup you have, but if you can tailor your Leader to adapt to the party's strengths, that will make your party so much more dangerous.

Thanks!

TheSeventhStooge...

CHALK!!!   ALWAYS buy chalk.  it's the first thing I always buy.  It's the most important item in any game and in any player's inventory.

1551: If you're playing a thief, ALWAYS make sure you keep an eye on yourself and have an ally or two do the same. Because if you're sufficiently skilled, it is actually possible for a thiev to steal his own pants without noticing. Nobody likes to walk around in a city and suddenly realize that they're holding their own pants and underwear in their hands rather than wearing it. The City Guard doesn't like seeing it either.

1552: Bribing the DM is like asking him to do a TPK... except you have to pay.

1553: If you have to choose between joining an 'invincible' 5-man-army and joining an actual army of 50,000 men, you're screwed. If you join the 'invincible' 5-man-army, they turn out to be really pathetic and if you join the 50,000-man-army, the DM didn't point out that they're all peasants wearing bright red shirts (if you don't get the reference, you obviously haven't heard of Redshirts from Star Trek. If anyone aside from cast-crew joins on a mission and wears a red uniform, they will get killed.)

1554: If something seems cliché, don't make the mistake of pointing it out. Most DMs will think you're critisizing his campaign and go on to centering the plot around your character getting maimed.

(1555) Make sure the people you play with are people you like; otherwise there is likely to be little spitful mind games designed to get characters killed and make life unpleasant for everyone.

I should never have made this thread 1001.

1556: If you have a Platemail-wearing Paladin in you party, who can't swim, there will be tons of ocean-encounter.

1557: The DM will never tell you when a Missable Item comes up or how you can get your most powerful equipment. Not even if you ask him. It's not his job to tell you when you can risk missing an item that you will need later.

1558: Mages may be the potentially most dangerous PCs... until they encounter Anti-magic fields.

1559: The 50-50-90 rule. There's a 50% chance the DM is trying to do a TPK, a 50% chance he's not and a 90% probability that he is trying to do it with a dragon.

1560. Never join a campaign/adventure with a GM who was the power gamer of the group. He might expect you all to act just like him and maybe even get pissed off at you for using his own tricks against him.

1561: If your campaign is about to end, make sure you don't kill off one of the PCs if the player controlling that PC will be DMing the next campaign.

1562: DMs usually decide to leave out the very important details when describing the room. And by 'very important details' I mean the throng of monsters crawling around on the ceiling.

1563. Dwarves are d10 weapons in the hammer group

1564. The Optimization Arms Race always results in player defeat

1565. If you can figure out what your DM expects your character to be like and play it, you don't need to be optimized. 

1566. Look down and see if you are on railroad tracks or loose sand, it could save you a lot of grief. 

1567: If the DM makes the party members of the City Guard, the party's first priority should be to abuse the authority.

1568: Stealing is legal, socially acceptable and morally okay, as long as nobody sees the party did it.

1569: Guards make excellent Meat Shields.

1570: On a related note: If you're playing a large, strong character, Gnomes and Halflings make for excellent shields.

1571: Killing random citizens is only acceptable if they die in the middle of battle. That way, you can always blame them for standing in the way, or claim it is "Collateral damage" or "Stray fire".

1572: Just because most laws of physics don't apply in D&D, it doesn't mean the Law of Gravity doesnt.

1573: The PCs are supposedly the heroes. The PCs also want to survive. The easiest way to achieve both: Take credit for someone else's heroic deeds.

1574: Incindiaries are disastrous. Try to avoid them.

1575: When the halfling can stealth right in front of you, you should try and learn to trust him.

1576: If you're a leader and you provide lots of party wide or area buffs, make sure you have a good way of reminding the players on their turns and during their actions or the buffs will frequently get forgotten

1577: Making your own characters stronger will only make your opponents stronger if your DM has proper DM skills

1578: Being stealthed will not protect you from bursts or blasts, it will only prevent you from being an intentional target 

1578b: Being stealthed does not mean you can ignore your defenses.  You will still get hit by that will blast and get stunned/dazed/dominated. 

1579: Telepathy is stealths best friend

1580: Make sure someone in the party can detect invisible enemies.

1581.  Make sure someone in the party can deal with flying foes.
Don't look at the Fighter or Avenger for this one!  Rangers and Wizards should be good at it; Warlocks and Bards can make do in a pinch.  Psions ought to be able to do this with style.  Bring a reach weapon, even if you don't normally use it.  (Greatspear =?= sharpened 10-ft pole)  There's doubtless more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

1582
always have some secret power that no one knows about,
suprise the bad guys, take advantage of allies.
 

oohh!
1583
dont know what versions have Rod of ropes besides 3.5 but that has gotten be out of many bad situations.
 

1584) oil flasks
1585) a character that can meditate for 4 hrs is extremely useful for setting up watches, especially if you have 2 of them that can just switch off
1586) more oil flasks

1587) Create the All Purpose Alchemists Cannon (APAC) as soon as possible. These rules are set for 3.5, but could possibly be made in other rule sets. All up, with all the awesome features, it costs around 30,000-50,000gp, so is a major setback. however, you can use this as a utility gun for the entire party, and you can add so many possible ideas or items to make it better. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE OK WITH YOUR DM. if you invest time and effort getting the parts, they ought to be lenient and allow it

base model is about 20,000gp.
It consists of a large ring with Gust of Wind enchanted with a Permenancy spell, placed in a steel tube. Get a crossbow stock (or custom stock) for the tubing, and have a small knob to turn the Gust of Wind ring. At the back of the tube, have a small bag of holding, or other extradimensional storage unit. you need an aperture, or at least a cap for the end. An aperture is just a hole that can be opened or closed gradually. When the ring is facing foreward, the Gust of Wind shoots out of the tube, essentially creating a small wind cannon. Focusing the aperture can decrease the radius of effect, but increase the range.

Some of the special additions can include: (names may vary)
Endless bottle of water
Bottle of endless mud/sand
Assassin's bag of caltrops
Bag of Holding, filled with Alchemists fire, Acid, Bullets, Arrows etc
Ring with Permanent Cold fire spell cast (for the end of the tube, to freeze your projectiles)
Ring with Permanent Fire spell cast (for the end of the tube, to heat your projectiles)
Spool of Endless rope (with grappling hook)

Attach the bottles to the tube with twist-open apertures, so you can seal off the containers. When you want to open one of the containers, you turn it, and the gust of wind then sucks some of the contents out and through the aperture. All of a sudden you have a gust of wind propelling an acid spray, or a spray of mud. then you activate the permenant flame ring, and that mud sets on contact, like cement. Or, Have the endless bottle of water open, activate the permenant cold fire ring and the water shoots out as shards of ice, propelled by wind. Or use water and the Fire ring, and you have an obscuring mist generator. Keep your spool of endless rope tied at the end in the vaccuum bag, and fire it out as a grappling gun, then reverse the airflow and pull yourself up. Spray caltrops and arrows, or alchemists fire or bullets or javelins. whatever you can think of. this gun is made of imagination. Get your DM to set limits, like needing a strength check to aim it properly (it IS shooting stuff out with massive gusts of air) keep in mind any material projectiles will need to be replaced, but can be done so via the vaccuum function.

1588:

Nothing is what you think it is.

1589) Get a bag of holding, there are so many things you can put in it that will help you later.

Not sure if these have been mentioned (only read through pg14)

1590) Regardless of the initiative roll, if you don't let the wizard (read 'arcane caster') let loose the AoE Nuke BEFORE charging into battle, accept the fact that the AoE Nuke will still happen, and you will be taking damage along with the baddies. Your damage is entirely your own fault. (casters wanna have fun too, and they can make your jobs SO much easier)

1591) Don't complain that the opposition dropped you like a bad habit if you denied the arcane caster his/her opportunity to drop the AoE Nuke before you went rushing into combat. (Nukes are great for softening up the baddies. The pressure from blasty spells is sufficient for triggering pressure-sensative traps and removing chaff/furnaturte/obstructions from your battleground. All-in-all, nukes do alot to ensure that you'll be more likely to survive the encounter.)

1592) (for arcane casters) Unless it is obviously within your best interest to keep your front line up and swinging, don't hesitate to drop the AoE Nuke on their heads if they insist on rushing into melee. (Definately give some kind of previous warning, but if it goes unheeded (repeatedly), by all means blast away. They'll get the point.)

1593) Make your Explosive Runes easily decypherable. Stick with something which could be argued to easily transcend language barriers (The runes detonate when read...). Perhaps something like a large X or a Ø, which are fairly universal for "NO" or "Bad!". Doing so will nearly guarantee a delicious explosion with no save @ ground zero.

1594) Remember, Amanuensis is your best friend when coupled with Explosive Runes and Mage hand (for delivering your trapped writings). It has a range of Close, a duration of 10 MINUTES per level and is a cantrip. (If the target contains normal and magical writing (such as a letter with explosive runes), only the normal text is copied... The spell triggers (but does not copy) writing-based magic traps in the material being copied.) Deliver a trapped paper or two a'la Mage hand (or by paper airplane, whatever floats your boat), thus keeping you well out of harm's way, and let loose with your Amanuensis. Repeat as desired.

1595)  Generate Explosive Runes prolifically. It is rarely a bad idea to have a few extra copies on hand. Their uses are many, though not greatly varied. Door swollen shut? Explosive Runes! Timmy stuck in the well? Explosive Runes! Need to send a 'proposal of treaty' or 'articles of surrender'? Explosive Runes! 

1596)  Keep your party's Rogue on their toes. Be sure to let him/her know that not everyone has the 'safety words' for all your copies of Explosive Runes, just in case they ever decide it may be in their best interest to go poking their nose into your possessions.

1597) Store your copies of Explosive Runes  in a safe place. No need to get yourself blown up by forgetting to deny your adversaries Line of Effect. Keep them in a sealed and bagged scroll case, folded inside your bedroll within your backpack, inside a non- (or extra-) dimensional space, anywhere out of sight! If they do not have Line of Sight, they do not have Line of Effect. Suffice it to say, you'll be having a very bad day when your opponent(s) get off that lucky dispel and you turn into pink mist amidst a thunderclap of detonating Explosive Runes.

1598) Always carry a bottle of something strong.  Few guards will accept a bribe; fewer will turn down a drink.

1599: Never proof-read any document if you have drawn explosive runes into it. It will hurt and you will regret it immediately.

1600: Don't flirt with 17th level female dragons if you're level 1. Just don't.

1601: Any plan that depends entirely on the enemy guards being incompetent, blind or dead is not the Plan A.

1602: Always check a magic weapon before equipping it. If you found it in the Big Bad's lair, there's always a 90% chance it's cursed, and a 9% chance it's completely useless. The last 1% covers the possibility that the item is important to the plot/dungeon, that it's useful and that it's not cursed.

1603: Even if the rules allow it, you shouldn't cast Invisibility on the bridge if you're the only one who knows where it is.

1604: Even if the rules allow it, casting Light on the Assassin to let him see better is going to ruin his chances of sneaking into the palace.

1605: No matter how high you roll on your knowledge Skill Checks, you're not going to be handed the Monster Manual so you can see the enemies' stat blocks, so don't waste your turns that way.

1606: Regardless of what the rules say, using Prestidigitation to create illusory fire all over a peasant warrants an alignment penalty for scaring the peasant.

1607: If you're playing a Wizard, and you don't know what to use your last action on, cast a Magic Missile at a minion. In 4.0E they don't require a roll and they are only Minor Actions making them a waste not to use.

Just a few additions:

1608: Don't cast fire-spells while standing on a wooden bridge. Especially if the wood is soaked. It will turn out to be covered in a highly flammable oil, and you will regret it for the rest of your character's life.

1609: Make sure to either be an excellent combatant or just a likeable person. This way, there's a slightly higher chance of your allies paying (with your gold) for you to be revived in case you die.

1610: Always make sure to be on your party's healer's good side.

1611: Always make sure you are not near the party's maximized character during an encounter. The Dungeon Master will try to kill him and everyone around him.
(unfortunately my character was riding on his shoulders.)

1612: Stay away from the party's thief. He will try to steal something from a party member, and that member will have a grudge on the thief for the entire campaign, no matter how small and cheap the item.

1613: Nothing is immune to the barbarian throwing the gnome at or over it; wether it is a hallway of traps or a fleeing enemy.

1614: Always have a personal weapon mentioned in your background. The Dungeon Master usually won't let a rust monster eat your character's grandmother's greatsword.
( When the party Assasin/Sorcerer tried to steal my character's totem from me, I just told my Dungeon Master about how it had the feathers of my character's dead ostrich pet/ spirit companion. Since we were in the treasure room my character immediately found a toe-ring of protection from thievery.)

1615: No matter how cool it may be never tell your Dungeon Master an extremely good strategy before you do it. It only gives him time to prepare.

1616: Avoid playing the op races. It makes the party hate you along with the Dungeon Master.

Guys, i am currently in the process of copying and pasteing the constents of this thread into word and soon (hopefully) i will edit it for order and find some way to destribute it for easy download by the community, if you want to encourage me just post a humerous compliment or something.

Just finished copying and pasting into word, will start editing for from and grammer, please dont let my efforts be in vain. BUMP!

I look forward to the finished product neo. Anything I can do to help?

Feb 27, 2012 -- 9:14PM, Brail wrote:

I look forward to the finished product neo. Anything I can do to help?

Would you happen to know how i can put this on the internet or forums so that others can down load it? I thinking ill just copy and past the whole thing with s[blocks] then a person could copy and past into there own word proscesser. btw, it 112 pages, 1616 survival tips.

pastebin.com/   or just the spoiler blocks. I dunno what to use now that megaupload is gone 

well,  i suppose ill just use sblocks, if some one could specifically show me the coding for spoiler blocks that would be cool.

Feb 28, 2012 -- 5:53AM, Neonrainbowchaser wrote:

well,  i suppose ill just use sblocks, if some one could specifically show me the coding for spoiler blocks that would be cool.

[ spoiler] [ /spoiler] Without leaveing a space between [ & the S.

Spoiler: Show

1617: Never ever, under any circumstances, put on a ring you just found on the ground.

1618: Shoot first, ask questions later.

1618 (b): Unless there are witnesses. 

1619: A bag of flour is rediculously inexpensive, inconspicuous, and makes for a fantastic improvised incindiary cloud... just add open flame for the boom.

1620:  Never underestimate the value of a well placed handful of marbles.

1621: If you are a mage, Operation Human Shield is imparative. Paladins have armor, make them use it.

1622: Sometimes throwing a scorching burst into a room and closing the door is the answer, depsite what LG people might say....

1623: When you suspect you are walking into a trap, send the LG Paladin in first...a) he can't refuse if you bluff him into thinking there is evil b) generally his defenses are good enough that he shouldn't die...but if he does, at least it was him, not you.

1624: The King in Braveheart knew tactics, copy him...if your tank is surrounded by lots of mobs, and they are all bunched together, targetting him with a fireball (while it may kill him) will kill most of those mobs...

1625: don't waste booze. Become a bottlemaster like me and score critical hits with winebottles.
1626: if dm decides to protect a character, these characters are great trap trippers

1627. Loaded crossbows save lives.

1628. If you ever find yourself without a tank, never ever put the cleric in front to tank just cause he has the most hp. You'll only end up losing your rogue(Based on a true story. Needless to say the rogue's next pc became a fighter XD)

1629. If you happen to pick up a duck in a dungeon, PUT IT DOWN! Doesn't matter if it's worth 1000gp and dissapears when put on the ground or a shelf/counter, if it draws every ranged attack made to your party to you, unless you a tank or have hitpoints to spare, just put it down.
Story behind it: my players found a golden duck worth 1000gp. The warlock greedy as he is picked it up. Now every form of ranged attack made by enemies is automaticly drawn towards him. And since he's greedy, he doesn't want to drop it. So far any attempt to talk him into dropping it by the party has failed.

163. If you have something in your head, think real hard about wether it will make life harder for you and the party or not. If the awnser is yes: just for the love of Bahamuth keep your mouth shut. Your DM will hear you and (s)he will implement it.
Cause of this my players are their worst enemy. Nearly every encounter someone runs their mouth and gives me more deadly ideas. It's like they want to die.

Nov 24, 2010 -- 11:35PM, Kenlar wrote:

Nov 24, 2010 -- 8:04PM, BRJN wrote:

1525.  During character creation, make sure you won't be AC-incompetent.  No matter how sneaky you (think you) are, something or other WILL show up at close range with a plain old weapon and use it on you.  Or an archer will get the drop on you.  These new high-damage-expression monsters HURT !

 
1525 supplemental: If you make a warlock, remember that they can use any armor up to chainmail. Not just the plain old cloth armor. This means you generally have a better chance surviving.
1526: Even if you are, in fact, the party's Defender, it is never a good idea to draw the attention from every single enemy. The more enemies attacking you, the greater the chance that each one crits.
1527: During the BBEG's extensive monologue, always look around in his lair. Who knows, he might actually be keeping his only weakness inside his lair, just waiting for you to use it against him.

call me crazy. but in 4thE, aren't the only armour types warlocks can use cloth and leather and not chainmail?

Sep 14, 2010 -- 12:26AM, Kenlar wrote:

1476: If there's a wizard who wants you to get him some dragon scales, kill him. We had this happen in our first campaign. We met a wizard who wanted us to get him some dragon scales, which we saw nothing wrong with, seeing as how a single wizard can't beat a dragon alone. Especially not if the wizard is a decrepit old man too. So we got him the scales over the next many levels. Then in level 21, when we had just reached Epic Tier, the wizard turned against us and wiped the floor with our toasted corpses. I'm starting to have second thoughts when old men ask for some scales.

But what if not only the wizard of your party but also the cleric of your party want's dragon scales? 

1631. Take Superior Will, and take it early.
1632. Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments

1633. Never trust a woman named Saffron.

(Yes, this came up).

1634 - Constitution is not a dumpstat. Ever.

1635 - Even if you are the tank, are proficient with heavy armour and have a big strength, it is wise to use a lighter armour most of the time. You can always run away from a fight, but surprise environmental dangers are far more deadly.

1636 - Enemy hit points don't matter if they cannot effectively fight you. Work together to improve your chances of disabling opponents

1637 - Be friendly to people around you. Being an **** does not help you at all, while friends might come by and help out if they remember you fondly. 

1638: (4e) It's never a bad idea to take along 5 potions of invulnerability along with a feat or item that lets you use it as a minor. Just ask my 96 hp sorceror who took 329 damage pre-resist all in the first 3.5 rounds of a certain LFR adventure.

1639: If it seems suspicious, treat it with suspicion.

1640:  Try to never get on a ship. [they all sink]

1641:  If you must get on a ship buy barrels.  The fighters, and clerics, should each buy a large barrel and place their armor inside, particularly plate.  The mage should buy a small barrel to keep their spell book whenever they are not using it.  Then take rope and make a handle on the barrel.  When the ship goes down your spell book is kept dry and you have a handy barrel to cling to.  The fighters don’t drown because their plate floats inside the barrel.  You might even be able rope the barrels together with debris and make a raft. 

1642: If your a mage, never specialize in one type of damage. The second an enemi has resistance to it you're screwed and useless except for meatshield.

1643: If you fired magic missile at the darkness and a magic missile is shot back at you, don't fire a burst or blast spell at it. It will reflect back at you and hit both you and your teammates most likely bloodying the cleric who dumpstatted his dex. 

1644: It is NEVER a bad idea to do an occasional favor for an NPC, particularly ones in high places. Garnering favors is how you get big things accomplished. Don't be afraid to call in the favors when you need to do something truly badass.

1645: If at first you don't succeed, get a feat or item that allows re-rolling or gives you an extra save vs death.

1646: Never play a lecherous character. The ONLY way to make it work is if the lechery is a joke at that character's expense and everyone else at the table shares your sense of humour. And it still only works sometimes.

1647: There is no actual reason for the Lawful Good character to be a righteous pain in the ass. Just because your alignment says 'Lawful' doesn't mean you have to obey every single damn law and sign to the damn letter, do you know ANYONE like that? Unless you are specifically playing a stickler to the rules for laughs it will only annoy people.

1648: Just because you have found a feat that gives you something you really want doesn't mean it is the best or only feat that gives you it. Many come with other perks attached, the trick is simply finding them (This is basically true of any game that has a similarly sprawling system of rewards and upgrades). Why get X when you can get X plus a skill bonus? Or better yet, X plus something way better than X.

1649: Same goes for character class and race.

1650a: Doesn't matter how nice they are in person, doesn't matter how much loot they give you, any DM worth having is always Chaotic Neutral. You will find out exactly how true this is at exactly the wrong time. Chaotic Evil DMs aren't worth keeping unless that is the theme of the game, in which case they are just Chaotic Neutral in disguise.

1650b: You may not be visible from the highly-traveled area but if the Bard cracks open the sing-along routine as a quick morale raiser before bed you'll be audible for a distance exactly equal to how evil your DM is.

1651a: Sometimes the best way to get all the loot out of the dungeon in one go is to just not to remind the DM that gold weighs a lot. If your DM doesn't notice that the wizard is carrying more than Crusher the ork neither will the wizard. Try to put the thought of weight out of your mind so as to better feign surprise when he realises.

1651b: As a second option, check your wizard doesn't have a spell that can carry it for you. That includes some summoning spells.
 
1651c: Failing a and b: give someone a strength potion. If you are worried about wasting said potion remember why it is that you are giving them said potion, i.e., because you have more gold than you can physically carry.

1651d: Don't carry the light stuff out in chests.

1651e: Don't carry the heavy stuff out in sacks

1651f: Carrying capasity is diferent from lifting capasity, carry stuff between you.

1651g: It really doesn't matter how empty that dungeon is, the more trips you make to the treasure the more chance you have of finding out it isn't. But don't get caught with your arms full, keep scouting.

1651h: You may be able to teleport most of it.

1672: And because nobody else seems to have said it, make sure EVERY member of the party has the following items specifically kept in a place they can get to IMMEDIATELY at all times:

• 3-5 potions of antivenom or cure poison. Yes, at least that many.
• At least 5 health potions
• At least one health potion of the best kind you can afford.
• At least one scroll or item that can undo petrification. Don't just give this to one person! They will get petrified!
• A wand they know how to use.
• A health potion that is specifically there for the other members to force-feed you
• A dagger or three, preferably mundane. They are there to be disposable.
• Potion of heroism. Sometimes people need a hero.
• Something really freaking dangerous such as a potion of fireball. If possible, save every single scroll\wand\potion of fireball\other big nasty effect that you can and hand out for use as a last resort when the party is being overwhelmed. Never underestimate the stopping power of six fireballs at once! Note: if you do launch that many and kill dozens or even hundreds and the next wave just rolls over their charred corpses, casually make a joke about their persistence to the other players, the DM may change their mind.
• Using a wand of grease or jar of oil first is a good idea too (yes, I know it has been mentioned)
• At least two vials of holy water
• Lockbust chalk or knock spell to open doors in a hurry. Yes, everyone. The fastest guy may be the furthest from the door.
• Pitons, hammer, for nailing shut doors in a hurry when something is trying to get through (at least two people need to have this)
• At least two scrolls of hold person that you know will work on all of the other party members. Domination happens and it isn't pretty when your own fighter spins round and goes for the wizard.
• They may be nerfed in 4e, but carry some alchemical items. Tanglefoot bag is a good choice.
• Spare weapon dealing at least one different type of damage to your main weapon
• Compromising photos of your DM

1673: If you can hand out fireballs like cupcakes your DM will suddenly produce monsters who eat said flaming cupcakes for breakfast. Deal at least two types of damage, six if possible. Try to find things that let you change the type of damage something deals.

1674: Gluing a door shut is a lot quieter than nailing it shut.

1675: If you run out of glue, solvent is highly flammable. Just saying.

1676: Don't use ALL of your solvent for setting things on fire. The next monster may start throwing jars of glue instead of tanglefoot bags just because the DM is mean.

1677: Aqua Regis exists in D&D, it looks a lot like clear water and you can fill things with it. Just saying.

1678: Just because there is gold or other metal in a pool of water or fountain doesn't mean that you should stick your hand in it.

1679: Just because you can stick your arm in it doesn't mean it's safe to drink. Never eat or drink stuff lying around unless you KNOW it is safe. Detect magic, detect poison.

1680: Just because everyone else in the party can drink from that lovley little decorative fountain doesn't mean it won't burn the vampire's whole arm off.

1681: All of the above goes double if you can hear faint giggling or laughter. Random mirth = you are being enchanted, doped, or poisoned. Especially if it looks in any way whimsical.

1682: Faeries are sick b*stards.

1683: Throwing suspicious liquids over monsters is a good way to test them, but a stick, leaf, or bit of paper is easier.

1684: Some of these suspicious liquids are actually there to help you, some may even restore health or cure sickness. Pay attention to what the DM says when you drink it. If you feel weak or woozy, stop, if you feel stronger, keep going.

1685: Never trust ANY of the following things:

• Small people who float on little lacy wings
• Floors made of mirror
• Walls made of mirror
• Mirrors in general
• Archways that lead nowhere
• Piles of gold that are just lying around
• Normal harmless-looking people randomly hanging around where they shouldn't be able
• Rooms that look like they are from someone's house
• Sudden generosity on the part of anyone
• Lines of pots with necks that are just wide enough to get your arm in and feel around
• Anything that you can only explore by putting your arm in. Anything.
• Big expanses of tiled flooring
• Statues or stuffed monsters\animals of any kind
• Anything with a gemstone set in it. Espeically if it is the eyes.
• Clocks, yes clocks.
• Murals
• Sudden botanical gardens
• Anyone who wants you to eat or drink anything.

1685: If you see a painting, get the thief to check it for traps then look behind it. Take the painting with you (bring a tube) but not the frame.

1686: It is entirly possible for absolutly everything in a given room to be some kind of mimic. Yes, even the walls, floors, chairs, table, and ceiling.

1687: If anyone invites you anywhere for a 'good time' or 'a bit of fun', they don't mean for you. The only option where you might live is to say no then and there or fob them off and then go find the party and tell them. Do you really expect your DM to set you up on a D&D date? Or discribe what the 'bit of fun' is in lurid detail in front of five other people? Hell no. Your sexuality in D&D stops where casual flirting ends. Period.

1688) For the love of all things good, have a standard operating procedure. Talk with the rest of the players and set it up in advance. If you start out sweeping through rooms from left to right, keep that pattern. Make a hard and fast marching order.

1689)And WRITE OUT THE LOCATIONS OF YOUR GEAR ON YOUR CHARACTER SHEET! This last one may only ever be impoirtant once, but it will make a life-or-death difference that one time, when your DM decides that if you didn't write the item's location, then whatever you need is on your mount and too far away to use.

1690) Look before you leap. Pay attention and ask the DM for descriptions of terrain or spells in effect that could hamper movement. It is a B1+c# to charge into an area covered with grease only to land on your face at the mob's feet. Coup de grace? 

When there is a door to be opened after a fight, don't roll till EVERYONE says what they want to do with that door.

One friend was rolling to poen it, while I rolled to kick it in. The DM said as the door was opened slightly, I kicked it open all the way. Didn't have a fight till the half-orc barbarian went in and opened an empty chest. A quartet of shades appeared.