Recent content by Blacksmithking

I find a barbarian turning into rock-lava stretches believability. A wizard flinging scorching bursts is acceptable, though. I like the molten dwarf art. It made me want to roll up a barbarian and play one. I find it easier to believe in the supernatural barbarian than the "martial" one in...

A paladin that dumps Str will have a terrible time making a basic attack. Well, at least until someone writes up a feat to fix it. A cleric that dumps Str, a "laser cleric," is also viable in 4e.

Here's an idea: if you attempt to stealth, you grant combat advantage to your enemies. You can't be sneaky AND keep up your guard. Right now there's nothing stopping, say, a paladin in plate from making stealth checks and hoping for a high roll. I've read the stealth rules, the various ENWorld...

I'd like to see more paths for each class, such as a melee path for clerics that isn't based on Str. Right now all my clerics are high-Wis high-Str gishes. All of the problems I have with 4.0e right now can be remedied by a few splats.

It feels more like D&D to me than previous versions of D&D. Now I have a party that actually has to work together to overcome challenges, instead of uber-wizard archmages, CoDzillas, and fighters that are basically summons that I have to heal. My warlock plays quite differently from my cleric...

Can my dragonborn rogue stealth if he stands behind my halfling paladin in the middle of a battle? Do enemies just forget the dragonborn is there? Can my rogue carry a large wooden block, "The Concealer," drop it at his feet in an adjacent square, and then claim he can stealth? Can my warlock...

With scale armor, a fighter gets some use out of his best trained skill. He can climb, escape from a grab, jump, and swim without penalty, at least until he picks up a shield. At the paragon tier, scale doesn't even slow him down in combat. This all makes a fighter distinct from a paladin, more...

That situation will probably change with the release of some splats. There's only some much room in the PHB, especially with each class having its own "spells." The only problems I have with 4e stem from its limited scope this point. For example, I don't like that there are only 2-3 cookie...

We might see traditions (such as emerald frost) appear in an arcane splat. I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg in the PHB. In many ways the PHB looks like a teaser for future books, in that it has just the bare minimum of material to play through 30 levels.

The armor proficiencies make sense for a cleric if you look at 4e as a game. Leaders should be less armored and durable than defenders but more durable than strikers and controllers. I made a group containing a cleric, warlock, wizard, and defender, and I found that the cleric ended up as the...

I think people are tilting at a windmill. I don't think PDF versions of the books will hurt WotC's sales.

I think raise dead would be trivialized if it were attempted far more often than it succeeds. I'd rather imagine that a priest would just know who could be resurrected and who could not. In some fantasy literature, a spellcaster with the ability to resurrect knows that a subject has "more to do...

I preordered from B&N using a "new member" coupon to bring the price down to $54.00. How bad can the books be that you won't get $54 of value out of them?

I'm 35, so I gather the image isn't targeted at me, or my wife. I'll buy the books even if otyughs in bikinis are on the cover. Her only exosure to fantasy is WoW, so I don't think the PHB cover will encourage her to dig into the PHB, though. I agree, the dragonborn doesn't look very draconic...

It looks like the artist was experimenting with foreshortening, as in the Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna. It doesn't work; the creatures on the covers look stumpy and disproportioned. Orcus, or whatever creature graces the MM, looks like a corpulent gnoll. It looks like I could trip him and spin...