Recent content by DLichen

I can see where the 3e guys are coming from, but I don't really feel that it is a matter of the rules but of presentation. The 4e rules can support monsters doing cool things out of combat, but the 4e books have pretty much failed to deliver on that account. If you want Orcus to be a big bad...

It seems that the heavy armor introduces masterwork items that bridge the gap from +0 to +4. It provides a new set of options that didn't use to exist at those levels, but doesn't yet increase the power ceiling.

I thought that the older blue dragons look nuts overpowered with their AOE at-will stun the entire party for a round attack, but that's just on paper. It seems that parties really need to hit with some of their nastier dailies to make it through alive though.

I like the strength Paladin's easy access to strong multi-class options. Cleric/Fighter/Warlord are all great and grants access to far better utilities and dailies than the Paladin's own lackluster list.

It seems to me that scry just has a different use than it did in the old days, which is good considering it's power. Now view object is great since if a plan is written down somewhere, you can just view copy of secret plans. View location is great since if you need to see if a distant fortress...

Swinginess isn't coming from d20s, bad rolls happen. My problem is that the designed damage output of an encounter is supposedly (max damage * .5). So max damage is pretty high compared to total hp. If you have 4 monsters hit and all 4 hit instead of the expected 2, the actual damage output...

Granting your enemy full concealment is a pretty hefty -5 to hit, attacking with a non-proficient non-magical weapon would also do some damage. But I can't imagine having to spend a standard action to gain 19-20 crit threat particularly overpowered. Cheesy, but not broken.

Is it just me or is the intentional design choice of setting the average hitpoint at ~50% making combats very swingy? I didn't really notice it when 4e first came out, but after a few weeks of running it the problem seems to be quite severe. PCs rolling badly or NPCs rolling well tilts...

Not having the book myself, could you reasonably summarize what the monster's behavior is? Usually a role will tell you how a particular monster performs. Maybe as a solo, this guy does things in a very different manner?

So you're saying that a player's passive perception is always on even in the case of opposed rolls like bluff? The other issue is that players tend to jump the gun or become paranoid about rolling perception, so would you just let passive override the active rolls of to search if they were lower?

So how do you DMs out there run passive perception and insight? Many times people from my group would try to actively spot something and roll below a 10. Do you just describe things as though they had rolled a 10 in that case or do you use the active search and treat it as though the PCs had a...

Consecrated Ground is a power that no cleric should be without, sure the damage looks weak on paper and the area of effect is small, but the sheer power of a few hp here and there while bloodied is amazing. Anytime an ally falls to 0 or lower, once they start their turn, they automatically gain...

I don't think kobold hall is tough enough that you have to up the PC's levels yet. The first two rooms should be fine to ease 3 pcs through. The third room can be slightly more more dangerous, but as long as your pcs still have their dailies it works out. If you encourage a 6 hour retreat and...

Did anyone else laugh at the fact that someone is claiming that a flying carpet is bad while forgetting the biggest draw, the fact that it, you know, flies? A magic carpet is just a carpet if not for the fact that it lets you rain death from above, out of reach of most attackers. On the other...

Sleep is the number one underperformer for me. To get the vaunted unconcious effect: You first have to hit with the spell, then the opponent has to fail their save against slow, and then they get saves to wake up. As a daily, saving it for a solo when unconsciousness would be good is unwise...