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That's cool, and I've also seen counterspell-focused builds that are pretty effective. But I still don't think that counterspellability, or the lack thereof, are really very serious considerations in balancing a class. Hence my puzzlement at Heap Thaumaturgist's comments.

A pathetically short range of powers. Seriously, though, does anyone actually use the counterspelling rules frequently enough that they count as a major balancing factor for anything?

I guess I'll vote for Odysseus, though the better solution is to dump Sheridan and the Hulk and keep Odysseus and Superman, who are both better and more iconic heroes (at least in my opinion).

I second this. Even though Odysseus would be winning if I had remembered to vote in this round, they both deserve to advance more than Sheridan or The Hulk.

It's a judgement call, really. At what point do the players seem to have slipped from playing (possibly foolhardy) adventurers and started to metagame themselves into believing they're invincible? That's usually when I drop the hammer, if I need to. But the key is presenting a sliding...

Hm, I meant that avoiding killing PCs and trying to come up with other risks, rewards, and penalties led to more interesting games for me than always and in every situations letting the dice fall where they may or trying for some kind of gritty verisimilitude. Unless you mean that I'm unjustly...

Once the levels hit the monster's racial HD, it slows to a one-to-one progression. So a succubus Paladin 15 is actually CR 19, which seems about right to me.

I am entirely unsure where you got this from my post, as my entire point is that the risk of dying is not only risk, and is not even my preferred risk when DMing to use to keep the game exciting. Then again, the sentences I quoted are confusing to me so I may be misinterpreting. I agree with...

Well, my experiences have been very nearly the opposite (though I haven't DMed for as long as you have) - games where I made sure there were other things to worry about besides/in addition to dying were better than ones that I played in a more hands-off style. You've been DMing for longer than...

I guess it depends on how you derive enjoyment from DMing. I'm typically having more fun if my players are having more fun, so it's no big deal to me to change the way I handle something, within reason. Of course, it's maddeningly difficult to get feedback from them and I still have my...

Aargh, you're right of course. I should have said "out of the fight", especially since even the successful save potentially kills you. I spoke too soon. Getting whacked with a disintegrate and blowing the save generally means a hasty retreat, if possible, what with the 7/caster level average...

Of course you have to tailor your DMing style to your players, and if they like CDGs being common then that's what you should give to them. I'm just saying that simply because I'll always pick an equally-appropriate tactic over the one that leaves a dead player character doesn't mean my games...

Exactly. Or to take the "hamstringing instead of CdG'ing" example. What if the players are on a time deadline, and the slower character will create a choice between splitting the party up in some way and potentially missing something very important? That, to me, is a much more interesting...

Since when is being "mean" and presenting "risk" equivalent to being willing to kill people? This attitude always annoys me, because I always start feeling a little guilty for not killing people when people take such pride in their willingness to do so. I'm probably just being neurotic, but in...

I agree with Staffan here. I haven't got a lot of interest in wish-listing (game works fine the way it is, I'm happy), but a GURPSy mix-and-match system would be very close to a deal-breaker for me. If anything, I'd like more spellcasting traditions in the core rules, though there is the...

1. Conan the Cimmerian 2. Beowulf 3. Rocky Balboa 4. The Shadow 5. Robin Hood 6. Sir Lancelot 7. Drizzt Do'Urden 8. Spider-Man 9. Indiana Jones 10. Superman 11. Gordon Freeman 12. Hellboy 13. Sam Vimes 14. ??? 15. Han Solo 16. Speed Racer 17. Corwin of Amber 18. Solomon Kane 19. Sherlock Holmes...

In a pretty usual player deviation from my planned adventure, the party's changeling rogue encountered a rather unstable pick-pocket, and decided to take him back to base with her to see if she could uncrazy him. I was reaching for ways to get across the NPC's unique brand of mental...

I don't know if anything particularly annoys me, but I like books that begin with some context, in the form of a little fiction or something. I haven't read the last half-dozen introductions to WotC books I've gotten, but that's got more to do with their lack of helpfulness than any distaste I...

But nothing in the nature of the spell per se renders the inflicted disease noncontagious, right?

Huh. I did not know that. Makes me feel better about the Ennies. More to the point, I don't think I've been seeing any more hate for WotC than usual, though the Ennies thing was bothering me too (I know WotC products have been nominated in earlier years).