Recent content by Brian Gibbons

... and, apparently, also expect that GMs will always have both the ability and time to Google said picture in the middle of running an adventure, should they happen to grabbing a monster like this to be used.

I think an edition war would be a step up from what we have now, since that at least would show some passion. I started with 2e and eagerly went with every edition change since; I playtested D&DN since the very first "family & friends" version. After all that, "apathy" is probably a pretty...

I'm also curious as to when the two-year playtest timespan begins and ends. "From when we started talking about this in-house until the day the book hits the streets" is different from "from when we released the first public playtest until the day we declare the playtest over and start making...

That's a common misconception, that a fighter can stop a shift. A fighter gets to stop movement with an opportunity attack, not his combat challenge attack. If a marked target shifts, the fighter may (if he has an immediate action left) get to make an attack, but the creature still gets to...

Without seeing the actual settlement agreement, it's impossible to say why the individuals involved made the decisions they did. One obvious explanation as to why someone would sign an agreement for such a ruinous amount (when a defaulting defendant gets a judgment for far less) is that they...

Not precisely the same, but the first thing that came to mind was Heinlein, who would occasionally have protagonists whose skin color was never mentioned and who most readers just assumed were white, but were in fact of another race. (The main character in Starship Troopers was Filipino, for...

While most of the level 6/11/16/21/26 weapons do decrease crits as a trade-off, there are a few that do not. The dynamic weapon (change shape into the weapon of your choice) and sacrificial weapon (daily power to spend a healing surge as a free action to leave your target weakened for a round)...

Scimitar Dance is a decent feat for a two-weapon ranger, but it's a great feat for an archer ranger, since their melee weapons will have less of an enhancement bonus, and their Dex will be higher. When the archer has to fall back on melee attacks, Scimitar Dance lets him do a guaranteed 10 hps...

He can do this concept in 4e, but being on par with other PCs will require you to add some feats and items of your own. Make him a ranger. Fists are weapons, so can be used with any of the two-weapon powers. You might want to add a feat he can take that gives him a +2 proficiency bonus and...

Here's a contrary viewpoint: 4e magic item resale rules are in spirit the same as the 3e rules, only with better math behind them. The point of having PCs able to sell found magic items is to allow them to choose between a GM-selected magic item that might not be exactly what they want and a...

I don't read the rules quite that way. The Skills chapter, for example, has quite a few static skill checks--climbing a brick wall is a DC 20 Athletics check whether you're 1st level or 20th. A moderately difficult skill check as a 2nd level character is going to be a different DC than a...

In 4e, if you believe that increasing the AC of a creature to 35 is appropriate, you can do so, and choose to give any (or no) explanation as you choose. The 3e paradigm is that as long as your methods follow the rules everything is balanced. You can choose to give a 10th level fighter no...

There are two very different situations being mangled and merged together here: - Situations where NPCs are able to do things that PCs cannot. - Situations where events happen in a manner different from the way they would happen if PCs were involved, but the GM wants the events to be seen as...

There is a reason that the section on dealing damage from falling objects is in the DMG. It's a rule of thumb for GMs to use, not a hard and fast rule for players to abuse. If you're letting players use the DMG (as it appears you also did with item creation), you're going to have problems...

It's easy for it to happen in actual play--all you need are situations where the cleric has the opportunity to fully buff before entering combat, as well as the willingness to expend the lion's share of their resources in one combat. I would expect there to be a high correlation between...