Recent content by jstomel

The rule I use, purely for flavor, is that if you get bloodied in a fight then you have picked up a scar or a bruise or a broken nose or something that bothers you for a few days (no penalty associated). If you get dropped then you have picked up a serious wound, something that has to be...

The solution I have most often heard is to reduce monster hit points by 1/4 and up their damage by 1/4. More lethal but they go down faster.

I always assumed that falling unconscious breaks a stance. Is this not the case?

Since well over half of the published material consists of powers, I think it is safe to say that they are relatively integral to the 4e system. While it's possible to take page 42 and stretch it to cover everything powers normally do, it seems inefficient to do so when there are many...

Hmmm... So you must have a +6 strength and two handed weapon. Am I correct in assuming that you went for a weak Cha in order to optimize for high Str and Wis?

How's the build on that one work? I admit that I'm not completely up to speed with the material in Divine Power.

Generally speaking I think polearms are most useful for non-defender classes. There are a few striker classes that benefit from being able to attack from a range and then move away without drawing and AO. With warlords it allows them to use their abilities from the back ranks where they can...

I think that radiant damage is definitely the most useful damage type. To my mind this is a balancing factor. Many divine classes (specifically the paladin and avenger) would be somewhat underpowered were it not for the fact that radiant damage is so dang useful. Ditto for the starlock...

I'm a big fan of the warlock and I actually think that it's a well balanced though difficult to play class. That having been said, I do have a few gripes. First, Eldritch Blast isn't all that great an at will. It's OK and certainly some people will want to take it, but it would be nice to...

Something seems wonky about it's HP value. According to my MonsterMaker software a level 14 elite controller should have nearly twice that many hit points. Also, lots of it's attacks only affect stunned or dazed creatures. It has no direct way to stun or daze. Sure, if a spirit wracked...

I think I am going to try something like this at my game tonight. I'll tell you how it works out.

You know, I've always thought that the monk could make a great martial controller. I know Wotc is planning to do some sort of weird psionic power thing for the monk, but I would usually think that "martial arts" implies a martial power source. The monk could be jumping around the combat with...

So I was just skimming through the MM1 and it looks like the difference between AC and a monster's lowest NAD is often around 5 or 6. Sometimes more and sometimes less, but 5 is not uncommon. The other thing I noticed is that with most monsters their lowest NAD is not reflex. Given this, I...

I don't know. One of the advantages of the warlock is easy access to a range of abilities that target non-AC defense values. A human warlock can easily start with at-wills targeting reflex, fort and will. Chances are pretty good that any monster is going to have at least one defense that is...

I have to say, I have been trying to figure out a build that will work well with paragon multiclassing. I think that combining the fighter ability to mark everyone they attack with a wizards area and blast attacks would make a powerful combination. I haven't playtested it yet, though.