I agree. If you aren't charging into a flanking position, or if you don't already have combat advantage due to some other effect, you can't use Surprising Charge, 'cause Risky Charge doesn't actually knock the target prone until after the attack roll.
There are now two Three Dragon Ante decks, and although I have the new one, Emperors Gambit iirc, I haven't played with it yet.
I enjoy it, and my non-RPG friends play it gladly.
I am also interested in reading about Inn Fighting.
There was a thread awhile back about and item or feat or whatever, that allowed a character to get up and shift 1 as a free action... and the OP had come up with an 'abuse' that would have worked by RAW... if falling prone was free.
I haven't had a chance to play a Battlemind yet, nor have I seen on in action, so I can't really comment.
I would however be interested in you fleshing out you statement about roleplaying archetypes... 'cause I'm not really sure what you mean.
There is no set limit, only a practical one. You reset to one AP after an extended rest*, and gain one more every milestone (every two encounters). You can only spend one per encounter.
*some exceptions iirc (Human, PP)
Have they said whether they were planning on using both the Revised and/or Original Campaign Setting stuff as therir basis of the 4e version anywhere?
The Pristine Tower is from the Revised.
Without knowing what monster was involved it's hard to say. I don't think there is anything in the general teleportation rules about it, so it would be down to the specifics of the power used.
I would assume that if I wanted the NPC to do that, I'd give it the power to do that. They don't...