[OOC] Return to the Rusty Rat

[Toot]

Re Aid Another: good points, again. As for "other uses" the rule just reminds that it can be use for saves(wtf?) and skill/ability checks (like breaking down doors but not like opening a lock or listening)

Yeah, the Aid Another skill check can sometimes be annoying.  Let's say Toot is helping Portho with a spellcraft check.  So he rolls a 10 and then for my Aid another I roll a 20.  All that 20 does is give Portho a +2 on his check.  Usually it's just better to make your own rolls unless the DC is too high.

In my game I do allow Aid another on pretty much any skill as long as you can come up for a way for it to work.  In the case of open locks, the person aiding would be consulting with the other person. 

Player 1: "Have you seen this kind of lock before?" 

Player 2:  [Rolls an 18]  Why, yes I have.  If I remember correctly it has five tumblers inside instead of the normal four." 

Listening perhaps you both could be listening and if the person aiding succeeds in their check they could point out a specific sound by saying, "Hey, did you hear that tapping sounded?" 

As for save throws, I guess for something like fireball you could try to push someone behind a big rock or a tree to shield them from the explosion. For will saves, maybe if you noticed a charm spell being cast you could yell at your friend, "It's a charm spell Portho!  Fight it!!  Fight it!!"  As for fortitude saves, I'm not sure how you could help resist something like poison. 

All these are just suggestions.  Something like a player trying to Disable a trap would obviously require the person aiding to also have skill in Disabling traps.

Re Toot's Longstrider: That would change everyone else from slow asses to crawling slugs.

I guess it would make more sense to cast the Longstrider on Portho and Lugar so they can keep up with everyone else.  But Toot might want something in return, like a Sculpt sound to help in Toot's sneaking around.      And maybe some body guarding from Lugar.  A little guy like Toot needs all the protection he can get! 

It's a longshot but I figured I would ask... Are you ever going to allow spells from other books like the Spell Compendium or the Players Handbook 2?  Some of the "Mass" spells are in those books --like Mass Longstrider -- would help with not requiring the use of multiple spell slots.  The Spell Compendium in particular has a lot of spells that were in 3.0 but were updated for 3.5.