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If Take 10 exists in the ruleset, the crafter can definitely Take 10... which means he's putting no real effort into hiding his trap, doing the basics, tried-and-true techniques. Stuff that might not fool a slightly-more-than-cursory glance by a more perceptive person (Take 10 Craft vs. Passive...

One thing to note is that yes, the 17th-level rogue can probably sneak in, kill the king and sneak out, but with the bounded accuracy, even a squad of 9th-level fighters can pose a real threat, without artificially inflating the campaign into a theme-park, as you put it. Cheers! :)

But passive Perception doesn't eliminate actively searching for something. It just means that the trap (or the trap builder's camouflaging skills) didn't catch the party's slightly-more-than-cursory glances. The DM tells the party everything they see (which could even include a hint that...

And it isn't. You were claiming that a 9th-level spell is too weak, because it only wipes out 56% of the monsters in the Bestiary. And you compared to the 17th-level rogue doing enough damage to assassinate creatures that would be able to survive a Meteor Swarm. And, as I said, those are...

You're comparing apples and oranges. The 17th-level rogue, in order to inflitrate the evil stronghold and single-handedly dispatch the enemy leader is undergoing a solo adventure. It'd take dozens of rolls to infiltrate the castle, either staying out of sight (and going the loooooong way through...

A trap "rolling" stealth is a representation of the trap's original builder using his craft to conceal the contraption. If it makes the DM feel better, roll in advance (representing the builder's original skill roll), and use that score against the party's Passive Perception.

So a character spending less than 1/10th of his daily power allotment to defeat 56% of all statted opponents is *too little*? Plus, in the next round he whips out an 8th level spell to kill all stragglers. Multiple. From a distance. Without exposing himself to harm. Two spells, two rounds...

WANT!

With retraining, you wouldn't need a Paragon Path, you'd retrain your original theme for another mid-campaign. But a Shade Exemplar paragon path, bulding upon the theme's powers, would be a cool possibility.

And you're wrong. I wrote my part in Heroes of Shadow (shade, vryloka, some feats, paragon paths and epic destinies) before Dark Sun came out. If I could go back, I'd totally make shade a theme.

I'm also okay with some classes choosing first. BUT, if I had to create a way around it: Cleric: At 1st level, a cleric is a mere acolyte, learning the basic prayers and proficiencies of his order (for instance, Turn Undead). At 3rd level, the cleric becomes an initiate, after being allowed to...

I'd expect it to be simple enough to change a few names around and place Tyranny of Dragons in any setting. After all, that Tiamat lady gets around! :)

War of the Dragon Queen (4e) and Red Hand of Doom (3e) are the more recent, multi-part draconic adventures.

Count me among those who liked the article. Lots of people are overlooking the actual numbers James mentions: a 20th level character will have acquired maybe a single magic item per four levels of play! That is a very low baseline, specially when compared to adventures from the past three...

Eh, I dunno. Imagine the opposite: the core books presenting the older cosmology, and then you get a Nentir Vale setting book that presented the World Axis. Is that really any different? In 3e the core books had the Great Wheel, and then Eberron came along with a whole new cosmology and new...

Judging by the mentions of the Princes of Elemental Evil in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, I'd say WotC agrees with you! IMHO, I think the rejection of the World Axis cosmology by some fans of previous editions had less to do with the actual cosmology, or its implications to the races and...

There's difference if we give them difference. The Jogsaw Cosmology (yes, I'm coining that now ;) ) presented the planes, and lets the DM arrange them. No default presents *no* planes, talking about the concept of plane, demiplane, etc, but offering no examples. Yeah, that was weird! :erm:

I think the biggest point in the polls so far is: - 88% use *some* cosmology, whether the Great Wheel, the World Axis, the Eberron Orrery or another campaign/cultural specific. - 89% think there should be a default presentation. 39% think it should be the Great Wheel, 29% think the planes...

For no other reason than the fact that it's been presented in AD&D, 2e and 3e, the Great Wheel earned its place as the baseline D&D cosmology. But a lot of D&D settings never used the Great Wheel (and suffered when shoehorned into it): - Dragonlance; - Dark Sun; - Eberron; - Nentir Vale; (I...

Edena was one of those EN World fixtures that kind of made the place what it is -- what is a messageboard but the collective of its members? He was definitely passionate about the hobby, and his imagination ran rampant, as anyone could see from his extensive posts. He loved words, and worlds...