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Actually, this is the main thing proving that Sleep isn't ended by damage. Exception-based design means that things which are specifically called out as exceptions aren't the norm, and powers don't have those exceptions unless they say they do. I disagree. The reason Sleep remains useful is...

Just looking in the SRD here, and excluding even defensive spells that any Wizard might prepare just in case, or non-violent combat stuff to deal with bar fights/angry mobs: 8th Level: Greater Planar Binding - Extraplanar creatures can serve as a source of information or useful powers, not...

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Although the design of 4E seems to be very sparing with at-will powers, there's no actual necessity for that - a character with 1000 at-wills has no more raw power than a character with two, just more versatility. This definitely does make the multiclass...

The balance to using psionics is the same as the balance to using arcane magic - you have a limited amount of personal power, and once you use it up it's gone until you can rest and recover it. Material components have never been a balancing factor - bat guano is cheap, you can literally buy a...

Who got arcane magic in my D&D? Seriously, which sounds more like classic fantasy to you? "The mage focussed his will, reached forth, and clouded the minds of the enemies." "The mage took out some bat guano, waved his hands, chanted, and threw balls of fire and lightning at the enemies." The...

Don't players find that kind of stuff annoying? It seems of a kind with the old "drow gear dissolves in sunlight" of previous editions - something most players just found irritating. I mean the "only Kobolds can make them" thing is a bit dodgy on it's own - and you better hope nobody plays a...

Sounds workable, although I wouldn't always set the skill challenge to the same difficulty as the monsters. If the PCs have great stealth skills, and wait for the Ogres to be asleep, they would definitely have an easier time sneaking past than fighting them normally, or engaging in a skill...

And back on the original topic, things that would be good to have: * Open-ended Illusions. The 4E trend is to simple single-purpose powers, but it's a trend that needs bucking sometimes. * Spells with permanent effects. I'm not talking huge stuff here, just things like a stone wall or pit that...

There's several different forms summoning could take: A) Lasts the whole battle, approx. strength of caster, takes standard actions to control. B) Lasts the whole battle, fairly weak, takes minor actions. C) Lasts a couple rounds, approx. strength of caster, no control actions needed. D) Lasts...

Only thing is - if you don't want PCs getting ahold of these, better not use the Kobolds that have them. Kobolds not being known for their bravery, it'd be rather a stretch to claim interrogating one for the recipe was impossible. And, Kobolds not being know for their wealth, it'd be unlikely...

IMO, at least, there's quite a bit of difference between narrating how something happens, and that something happens. Hypersmurf's example falls into the first category. If the player didn't have a Thunderburst weapon, and was still able to get the explosion effect by narrating the gunpowder...

It's not really a hard and fast line - most games fall somewhere between zero and total narrative control, rather than at either extreme, and narrating the "special effects" of mechanical abilities certainly isn't going to inhibit challenging the players. But there is a real difference, in the...

I would say it has equal or greater tactical skill - picking what to do within a combat, but less "strategic" skill - picking how and when to enter combat. In some cases, there's a direct trade-off. For example: * Buffing Spells: If they last a while and take an action to cast (3E style)...

I use this solution all the time, and it explains quite a few things. Did you really think the Doomsday Scrolls would be sealed with a simple logic puzzle? Of course not, it's actually a multi-dimensional locking mechanism that requires advanced spatial knowledge to even perceive correctly...

The advantage to "creating a world that could exist somewhere" is that the results can surprise you. If you base your game around a story you designed, the story isn't going to surprise you unless you develop amnesia. It may surprise the players - but then again, it may not, especially if...

All games result in stories (sometimes interesting ones, sometimes not), but not all games are based on or guided by stories. The only issue I have with "know when to run" is that often, if the creature is strong enough to need running away from, it's strong enough to catch you. I mean, take...

Targetting point of a Burst is the center (so at least a quarter is always there, even if aimed at a corner). Targeting point of a Blast is a square adjacent to you + a direction, so you could make it basically a one-square line if you were next to a wall. Also note that with hardness gone...

That's the thing - not everyone wants to be driven by destiny. Some people want to steer their own course. Now if destiny beckons, they might follow, but they don't want to be railroaded into it. So you're going to send a squadron of dwarven warriors and a high level wizard along with the PCs...

Also I should note that simply having a flatter power-curve, for the entire game world, is completely legitimate if you want to play that way. If you want to say that by level 30, you have the power and foes of a 10th level character, there's no inconsistency - although in that case you may as...

How do the encounters going by faster change things? If you asked me, personally, to go find and slay a band of demonic ogres and a pair of dragons, I would say "No, that would be crazy, I'll help in some way that isn't guaranteed death." If you then said, "But it'll go by very quickly, in the...